Rishi unveils plans to boost small businesses by making apprenticeships cheaper
RISHI Sunak and Kemi Badenoch yesterday launched a charm offensive against small businesses, amid accusations the Government is prioritizing big business.
The Prime Minister and his business minister have unveiled plans to boost small businesses by making it cheaper to take on apprentices.
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Speaking in Coventry earlier yesterday, Mr Sunak admitted that “it’s been a tough few years” following the pandemic and rising inflation – but insisted the economy is “pointing in the right direction”.
Ms Badenoch added: “We are reducing the barrier for small and medium-sized businesses so you can go further and faster.”
The Prime Minister said apprentices should not be seen as “second-class citizens” because they do not progress to higher education and that “there are opportunities for every career within the apprenticeship system”.
The Government is now funding the full cost of apprenticeships for under-21s in small businesses, which will cost an additional £60 million.
Last year, 752,150 people took part in an internship in England.
Mr Sunak said it would “unleash a tidal wave of opportunity and make a real difference to businesses”.
Ministers will also increase the amount of funding that companies paying the apprenticeship levy can pass on to other businesses from 25 percent to 50 percent.
Major companies have long argued that the levy’s “use it or lose it rule” needs to be overhauled, as more than £3.5 billion of unused funds have been returned to the Treasury since it was introduced in 2019.
This money will be used to fund the small business scheme in the future.
Julie White, boss of D-Drill, has 30 apprentices in addition to her 200-strong workforce.
She said the new initiative was “fantastic” but that apprenticeships were “still seen as a third choice after university or college” while large vacancies remained in the UK construction sector.
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£250 million support for female founders
RISHI Sunak declared yesterday that he wanted to make Britain “the best place in the world” for women to start a business.
The Government has unveiled an Investing in Women taskforce at the Business Connect conference in Coventry.
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The Prime Minister said female founders receive only 2 percent of equity investments, which has remained unchanged in a decade.
British Business Bank boss Louis Taylor called it a ‘colossal waste of potential’.
A BBB report shows that for every £1 of venture capital investment in Britain, all-female founding teams get less than 1p, all men get 89p and mixed-gender teams get 10p.
The taskforce aims to raise £250 million from private companies.
It was welcomed by Roni Savage, founder of engineering firm Jomas Associates.
Michelle Ovens CBE, of Small Business Britain, said it could “expand a huge opportunity for the UK economy”.
£60 billion to harness the wind
An extra £60 billion is needed to ensure the UK’s electricity grid can keep the lights on, a report has found.
The National Grid-owned Electricity System Operator wants to create a new ‘electrical backbone’ across the country, connecting 21 gigawatts of offshore wind power to meet rising electricity demand.
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That is enough to power another 14.7 million households.
It would stretch from Peterhead at the easternmost point of Scotland to Merseyside, supplying homes and businesses north of the border and across northern England.
The biggest expansion of the electricity grid in 70 years could create 20,000 jobs, nine in 10 of which would be outside the South East.
Offshore wind energy is not currently being used effectively, but the report says: “Britain is about to make the biggest change to its electricity network since the construction of the high-voltage transmission network in the 1950s.”
Pain for Panadol
PANADOL painkiller maker Haleon has faced fresh headaches as former parent company Pfizer looks to dump £2bn of shares.
It was spun off two years ago in a listing by joint venture partners Pfizer and GSK.
Pfizer now wants to reduce its stake from 32 percent to 24 percent.
Haleon, which also makes Sensodyne toothpaste, is spending around £315 million buying back some of its shares from Pfizer.
Curry gets hot
CURRYS has raised its profit outlook after US company Elliott Advisors and China’s JD.com ended bid talks.
The electronics retailer said trading yesterday had been better than expected and that its Scandinavian division was improving.
It now expects to make £115 million in profits instead of the £105 million forecast.
Boss Alex Baldock said: “We are now confident we can raise this year’s profit expectations to at least the high end of our previous expectations.”
Shares rose 6 percent to 60p.
House on that
House prices rose 1.5 per cent in March to an average of £368,118, according to Rightmove, as a calmer mortgage market attracted more buyers.
According to the real estate website, turnover had increased by 13 percent since last year.
Scare on tiles
CONSTRUCTION materials group Marshalls has cut 300 jobs and slashed its profit prospects. After warning it will take longer to recover from a slowdown in the construction sector.
Shares fell more than 8 percent to 265p after the tiles and paving seller posted a 40 percent drop in profits to £22.2 million.
The company expects business activity to be “moderate” and any recovery to be “slower and more modest.”
Marshalls has already shut down two factories and made layoffs to cut costs.