§ Ms. QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what incentives his Department promotes for women wishing to start up their own business.
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 5 March 1990]: The Government's policy is to create a beneficial climate for small businesses generally, mainly by encouraging conditions of fair competition and minimising regulation, and by providing a complementary range of fiscal, financial and advisory measures.
My own Department's services include the development of a wide range of business training, the loan guarantee scheme, the enterprise allowance scheme in which over one third of participants are now women, and the small firms service. All these opportunities are open equally to men and women. My Department is keen to encourage women to set up in business, and part-funded a study into the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs conducted by the Scottish Enterprise Foundation, published in November 1988. Following that, the Training Agency has invited organisations to compete for a contract to develop enterprise training for women within employment training.
Women are increasingly taking advantage of enterprise opportunities. Between 1979 and 1988 the number of self-employed women in the United Kingdom more than doubled, compared with an increase of just under 50 per cent. for self-employed men.