Mr Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Gregory Campbell on 2014-03-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote small business entrepreneurial skills for people who are currently unemployed.

Esther McVey

The Government is keen to promote and provide support to help people start and build their own business. One of the ways we are doing this is through the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA).

The NEA provides access to business mentoring and financial support for people on benefits interested in starting up their own business. The financial support consists of a weekly allowance payable over 26 week’s worth up to £1,274. If participants need start-up capital they may also apply for an unsecured loan through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills start-up loan scheme.

So far 32,520 businesses have been created and 56,700 claimants have started working with a mentor.

We announced in the Autumn Statement our intention to extend the scheme through to 2015/16.