There is a renewed political focus on tackling the UK’s high levels of regional inequality. Key to any agenda to ‘level up’ the UK’s underperforming regions will be policies to support the starting and scaling of new ventures. The APPG for Entrepreneurship is putting out a call for evidence to better understand how we can ‘level up’ the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystems and promote job creation across the UK.

Our Call for Evidence will cover issues including: access to finance, networks, skills, and infrastructure. It will be the basis for an upcoming APPG for Entrepreneurship Briefing Paper.

We’ve split the call for evidence into two. For entrepreneurs, our questions focus on your experience starting a business, the challenges you encountered, and your views on whether policy needs to change. For researchers, business representative organisations, and organisations who work with entrepreneurs directly (e.g. VCs, accelerators) we want to know what your own data and research says about levelling in relation to entrepreneurship.

Feel free to answer only the questions you find relevant.

Please send all submissions as PDF files to sam@tenentrepreneurs.org

The Call for Evidence will close on Friday November 12th.

For Entrepreneurs

Background information

  • Briefly describe your background including region, gender, age, ethnic background.

  • Tell us about your business.

Access to finance

  • Have you tried to access equity finance? If so, what kind (e.g. angel vs VC) and, what was the experience like?

  • If your business operates outside London and the South East, do you believe it affected your ability to access finance?

Networks and Business Support

  • Are you a member of a business network?

  • Do you believe there are good opportunities for networking in your local area?

  • How do you connect with other businesses in your local area?

  • Have you tried accessing local business support from the Council, Local Enterprise Partnership, or Growth Hub, or similar organisation?

  • What was your experience?

  • Do you believe you have access to skilled workers or is access to talent a challenge?

  • If so, which skills do you find it difficult to hire for?

Access to talent

  • How would you rate the transport infrastructure in your region?

  • Has it ever acted as a hindrance to your business’s growth.

Infrastructure


  • Have you interacted at all with your local university(ies)?

  • If yes, how would you rate the experience? Do you think the links between business and the local university are strong?

Universities

  • How would you rate the startup scene in your area?

  • How could it be improved?

  • Any other points you would like to raise?

Startup Ecosystem

For Researchers and Business Groups

  • Tell us about your organisation.

  • Do you work directly with entrepreneurs?

  • What does levelling up mean to you (or your members)?

  • How does business performance in terms of survival rates, growth rates, and productivity differ across the UK?

  • Have you produced any research looking at the issue of regional inequality in relation to entrepreneurship?

Background information

  • Do you believe there are significant barriers to accessing capital outside of London and the South East?

  • If so, is this better or worse for some types of finance compared to others. For example, is it harder to access equity finance outside of London and South East relative to debt financing?

  • Do you have any data to show this?

  • If there are barriers, what policy measures could remove them? 

Access to Finance

  • How can procurement processes be made more accessible for SMEs?

  • Should central government use procurement as a tool for regions it is trying to level up?

  • Do you believe accessing business networks is harder outside of London and the South East?

  • Are their specific gaps e.g. a shortage of NEDs or incubators, or is the problem across the board?

  • Do you think LEPs are effective at providing SMEs outside London and the South East with information and facilitating networking?

  • If this is a problem, what policy measures do you think would alleviate it?

Procurement




  • Do you believe accessing business networks is harder outside of London and the South East?

  • Are their specific gaps e.g. a shortage of NEDs or incubators, or is the problem across the board?

  • Do you think LEPs are effective at providing SMEs outside London and the South East with information and facilitating networking?

  • If this is a problem, what policy measures do you think would alleviate it?

Networks

  • How does transport infrastructure affect entrepreneurship across the UK?

  • How does access to high speed broadband affect entrepreneurship across the UK?

  • Are their regional differences in infrastructure quality? If so, where are they most pronounced?

  • What types of projects should policymakers prioritise?

Infrastructure

  • How do skills contribute to regional disparities?

  • Is there adequate resources for businesses to upskill their workforce?

  • Is there adequate support for management training for entrepreneurs across the UK, do some regions do better than others?  

  • Are there any policies you recommend?

Skills and Talent

Please send all submissions via email to sam@tenentrepreneurs.org