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The Parliamentary Business, Innovation, Science, and Trade Committee has launched a consultation into the difficulties facing new entrepreneurs and how they are supported.

The new inquiry follows the Committee's inquiries into Small Business Strategy and Investing in the UK Economy, which examined how businesses grow and access to scale-up finance. This previous enquiry found that small firms faced pressures comparable to those during the pandemic and risked business viability. The Committee later lamented the government’s response to their recommendations as ‘inadequate’.

Although it found that one in five adults were either starting or running a new business, it warned that opportunities and outcomes vary significantly between regions, sectors and demographic groups.

The new inquiry specifically focuses on new businesses and start-ups. It will consider:

• How do people start businesses?
• What are the conditions that support entrepreneurship?
• How effective are government policies at encouraging enterprise creation?
• How will the new department combine its new innovation policy to help?

It wants to examine the UK's entrepreneurial ecosystem, look at international comparators and explore the roles of education, finance, innovation and government policy in supporting business creation. It will also examine entrepreneurship in the skilled trades, including the journey from sole trader to employer, and the factors that help or hinder tradespeople in building viable businesses and taking on apprentices.

The inquiry will run until 12 November 2026 and seeks submissions from all sorts of entrepreneurs. All submissions will be read, but participants must read the Call for Evidence outline and respond to specific questions.

The Call for Evidence can be found here:

https://committees.parliament.uk/submission/4001/#/evidence/4001/call-for-evidence