News: A bill welcomed by small business owners
The Government has announced a Small Business Bill that will back entrepreneurs who run small businesses by cutting bureaucracy and enabling them to access finance.
Outlined in a Queen's Speech that was described as "unashamedly pro-work, pro-business and pro-aspiration," the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill is designed to help make the United Kingdom the most attractive place to start, finance and grow a business.
The main elements of the Bill are to:
- make it easier for small businesses to access finance; improve payment practices between small businesses and their customers; provide small firms with fair access to the £230 billion spent each year in the form of public procurement contracts and increase the availability and sources of finance for businesses that want to invest
- ensure that the red tape that affects small businesses is frequently reviewed to ensure regulations are either cut or remain effective, and to place that requirement into law
- strengthen the reputation of the UK as a trusted and fair place to do business, by increasing transparency around who owns and controls UK companies with a register of beneficial ownership, strengthen rules on director disqualifications and remove unnecessary costs from insolvency law
- strengthen UK employment law by tackling National Minimum Wage abuses and cracking down on abuse in zero hours contracts
- make it easier for small businesses to expand overseas
- bring fairness to the sole traders and small businesses that run 20,000 or so tied pubs across England and Wales, with a new Statutory Code and independent Adjudicator to ensure that publicans who are tied to a pub owning company are treated fairly
- make some childcare regulations more flexible to meet the needs of working families
- stop highly paid public sector employees keeping redundancy payments when they come back to the same part of the public sector within a short period of time
Chancellor George Osbourne said:" The Small Business Bill is designed to make sure that we are backing those who export, cutting red tape for those who are building up their businesses. It's all about making sure we are creating jobs and opportunities in the future."
John Allan, national chairman of the The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), added: "The Small Business Bill, announced today in the Queen's Speech, reflects the growing recognition of the role small businesses have to play in driving forward the economy and the need to do all we can to support them in that effort.
"This landmark Bill will therefore be welcomed by our members. It includes measures that we have pushed for in our discussions with Government and indeed all political parties over the last twelve months to help them support their growth ambitions – such as action on late payment terms for smaller suppliers and to beef up scrutiny of unnecessary regulation.
"We now look forward to seeing the detail when the Bill is introduced, and working with all parties in the Commons and Lords as the Bill progresses through Parliament before the Election."
Other Bills announced in the Queen's Speech focus on pension reform, infrastructure and childcare.
Images: Prime Minister's Office
Outlined in a Queen's Speech that was described as "unashamedly pro-work, pro-business and pro-aspiration," the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill is designed to help make the United Kingdom the most attractive place to start, finance and grow a business.
The main elements of the Bill are to:
- make it easier for small businesses to access finance; improve payment practices between small businesses and their customers; provide small firms with fair access to the £230 billion spent each year in the form of public procurement contracts and increase the availability and sources of finance for businesses that want to invest
- ensure that the red tape that affects small businesses is frequently reviewed to ensure regulations are either cut or remain effective, and to place that requirement into law
- strengthen the reputation of the UK as a trusted and fair place to do business, by increasing transparency around who owns and controls UK companies with a register of beneficial ownership, strengthen rules on director disqualifications and remove unnecessary costs from insolvency law
- strengthen UK employment law by tackling National Minimum Wage abuses and cracking down on abuse in zero hours contracts
- make it easier for small businesses to expand overseas
- bring fairness to the sole traders and small businesses that run 20,000 or so tied pubs across England and Wales, with a new Statutory Code and independent Adjudicator to ensure that publicans who are tied to a pub owning company are treated fairly
- make some childcare regulations more flexible to meet the needs of working families
- stop highly paid public sector employees keeping redundancy payments when they come back to the same part of the public sector within a short period of time
Chancellor George Osbourne said:" The Small Business Bill is designed to make sure that we are backing those who export, cutting red tape for those who are building up their businesses. It's all about making sure we are creating jobs and opportunities in the future."
John Allan, national chairman of the The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), added: "The Small Business Bill, announced today in the Queen's Speech, reflects the growing recognition of the role small businesses have to play in driving forward the economy and the need to do all we can to support them in that effort.
"This landmark Bill will therefore be welcomed by our members. It includes measures that we have pushed for in our discussions with Government and indeed all political parties over the last twelve months to help them support their growth ambitions – such as action on late payment terms for smaller suppliers and to beef up scrutiny of unnecessary regulation.
"We now look forward to seeing the detail when the Bill is introduced, and working with all parties in the Commons and Lords as the Bill progresses through Parliament before the Election."
Other Bills announced in the Queen's Speech focus on pension reform, infrastructure and childcare.
Images: Prime Minister's Office
1 comments:
This sounds promising, hope it makes as much difference to small businesses as it promises.
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