Business: Young People
Business, Innovation and Skills
Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding his Department provides to entrepreneurs aged 16 and 17 years old.
Mark Prisk (Minister of State (Business and Enterprise), Business, Innovation and Skills; Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)
holding answer
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) provides funding to a number of organisations, including the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs, working with schools and colleges to raise enterprise awareness and to build enterprise capability amongst all young people. Funding is focused upon supporting schools and colleges to provide hands-on enterprise experience as the evidence shows that this has the greatest impact upon perceptions of enterprise as a viable career option.
BIS has recently launched a pilot scheme to test demand for start-up lending amongst 18 to 24 year olds and more information on this scheme can be found at:
Start-ups typically raise finance from a diverse range of informal and formal sources. For those seeking help in identifying more formal sources of finance:
provides a searchable database at:
http://improve.businesslink.gov.uk/resources/business-finance-finder