APPG for Small and Micro Businesses - Call for evidence

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Small and Micro Businesses works to raise awareness of small and micro business issues in parliament. The group meets throughout the year to explore, discuss and debate key challenges facing small businesses, and policy that impacts their growth and success.

According to the Government’s White Paper ‘Fixing our broken housing market’, since the 1970s there have been on average 160,000 new homes each year in England. The consensus is that we need from 225,000 to 275,000 or more homes per year to keep up with population growth and start to tackle years of under-supply.

Over the last 25 years the number of SME builders has fallen by over 80%. In 2015 just 18, 000 new homes were registered by small builders, down from 44, 000 in 2007. Scale of the decline suggests there is significant potential in the SME sector to make a significant contribution to building the homes needed if construction firms can be tempted back into the delivery of new homes.

The APPG for Small and Micro Business will hold a short inquiry into how the SME house building sector could be better supported by Government policy. The group are keen to hear from relevant stakeholders to understand the experiences of small housebuilders, how effective Government policy has been in supporting their growth, and what more could be done through policy to support the sector.

Issues the group expects to explore include:

• Workforce and skills
• Access to finance
• Accessing the supply chain
• Barriers to building

More information and terms of reference can be found HERE