MP for Hornchurch and Upminster, Julia Lopez, has welcomed the government’s new Small Business Council and Help to Grow campaign.

A new Small Business Council, chaired by the Minister for Small Business, will be established to bring together industry leaders from across the SME community. The Council builds on the Department for Business and Trade’s existing engagement activity and will provide a powerful voice for small businesses within Government. It will be tasked with overseeing three key areas for small firms – Access to finance, skills and support as well as removing barriers.

The new Help to Grow hub will be a one stop shop for SMEs to find information they need to grow and scale up. The new site will bring together the support on offer from the government into one place, making it quicker and more convenient to find the resources business leaders and budding entrepreneurs need. The Help to Grow website can be accessed here - Support from the UK Government - Help to Grow

Commenting, Mrs Lopez said ‘I know how daunting it can be for those starting a new business to find the information and advice to help them get started. The same can be said for those entrepreneurs who are looking to scale up their business, so I really welcome the new Help to Grow website which brings together all the advice and information into one simple toolkit. I truly hope this reassures small firms that government is making it easier to access support – and builds on our success in supporting 90,000 SMEs via the British Business Bank. Our business rates package worth £4.3 billion over the next 5 years will also help high streets and small firms across the country.’