Before I come to my main points about this Bill, which I support, I would just like to follow on from the speech of the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) and talk about the big picture for a few minutes. One can quibble about the benefits or otherwise of this scheme or that one, but the Government’s economic policies and interventions have contributed to Britain becoming the fastest-growing country in the western world. Survey after survey confirms the figures, which are extremely optimistic about this economy. I sometimes think the Treasury team is, with characteristic self-effacement, almost cautious in putting forward the record of this Government in full technicolour, so I would like to take up that role this afternoon.
The Bill is a straightforward and simple measure, top-slicing £2,000 off every company’s employer national insurance bill. As such, it will provide significant help to small businesses. I have 5,200 small and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency, and I welcome this measure on behalf of them all. We have heard the quotes from various organisations representing small businesses, social enterprises and so on welcoming the measure. The fact that it has such independent support ought to speak for itself.
I also wish to draw attention to the ambitious sole trader. The SMEs will have their employer insurance bills cut, but we also need to consider the small sole trader who is ambitious and wants one day to grow his or her business, just as I did. When I started my business in the 1980s, it consisted just of my business partner and me—everyone else who helped was begged, stolen or borrowed. I well remember the agony of the decision to appoint the first paid member of staff. One knows that one has to do it at some point if one wants to grow the business, but the responsibility that comes from knowing that someone walking through the door is then dependent for their livelihood on the success of one’s business really makes one stop and think. Anything that makes that decision easier, as this Bill does, has to be welcomed.
I wish to talk about a young woman in my constituency, Amy Fairley, who has a passion for flowers. She worked in a florist’s shop until about six month ago, when she was made redundant. She decided to follow her passion and dream by setting up her own florist’s shop. She did
that with help from the new enterprise allowance scheme—another good scheme—and a Prince’s Trust grant and the mentorship that the Prince’s Trust also provides. I helped her to open her wonderful florist’s shop on Coventry street in Stourbridge three weeks ago. As a Prince’s Trust mentor for four years before I was elected, I have had similar experience and I was always reluctant to advise on taking on that first member of staff, because of the cost and the risk. One wonders whether the member of staff will be needed all the time, although, of course, they could be taken on part-time. The Bill will mitigate that caution.
I also wish to make the point that the Bill is part of a package of measures designed to help employment and small businesses. The reforms to employment law are also crucial, because this is not just about the cost of taking someone on; it is also about the fear that if the wrong person is appointed, the business is in for a huge headache. The Government’s doubling of the qualifying period before people can make unfair dismissal claims to two years is a huge advantage, as is the fact that they are making settlement agreements easier, obviating the need for employment tribunals, which are expensive in many cases. I know from my work as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Green that the Government have invested hugely in UK Trade & Investment and UK Export Finance, again for the development of specific programmes to support small businesses with their exports.