Launch of the Start-Up Hub 2013

Prime Minister David Cameron today called on start-up businesses and entrepreneurs across the UK to get involved in this year's Conservative Party Start-up Hub and win the opportunity to showcase their work in front of thousands of visitors at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

Launched for the first time two years ago, the national competition is a chance for 12 new businesses to demonstrate their ideas or designs during the four day conference running from Sunday, September 29th to Wednesday, October 2nd.

Launching the competition, Prime Minister David Cameron, said:

"The Conservative Party believes that small businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the UK economy. To show our continued commitment to British enterprise and entrepreneurs I am pleased that the Conservatives are once again running the Start-Up Hub at our Conference. I support this initiative and encourage start-ups and entrepreneurs to apply."

More details and how to apply available on www.conservatives.com/startuphub

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Mark Prisk- National Self-Build Week

This week marks the first ever 'National Self Build' week.

We all know how important it is to see more homes being built across the country and with the results of an Ipsos MORI poll that discovered that around six million Britons are currently planning or researching how to build their own homes, this is a good way to help people overcome the barriers to building their own home.

Taking place between 4-12th May, National Self-Build Week is organised by the National Self Build Association (NaSBA) and Grand Designs Live coinciding with their Live exhibition in London, and is supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Throughout the week there will be panel discussions looking at the main hurdles would be self builders still have to overcome and Q and A sessions which focus on dealing with local councils and how the planning system can enable and encourage more self build. Also, there will be a series of events nationwide, all with the aim to inform and help people turn their self build dream home into a reality.

As Housing Minister, I wholeheartedly support this initiative. This Government is determined to help make building your own home easier for everyone and the National Self Build Week is a further step towards helping people achieving this ambition.

For more information follow the weblink here - http://www.nasba.org.uk/nsbw

Mark Prisk is the Housing Minister.

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Government help for SMEs on Cyber Security

Research commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has revealed that the number of cyber attacks hitting businesses has increased over the last year. 

The research also showed that 87% of small firms experienced a security breach last year, up 10%. 93% of large organisations had also been targeted. To help guard against these attacks, which can cost a small business 6% of its turnover, government is offering further funding and guidance.

The Technology Strategy Board has extended a scheme to allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to bid for up to £5,000 to improve their cyber security.

More details of the support available can be found here.

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Baroness Thatcher, 1925-2013

David Cameron has paid tribute to Margaret Thatcher, saying that "It was with great sadness that I learned of Lady Thatcher's death. We have lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton"

Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.

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The Budget 2013

The Chancellor George Osborne has delivered the 2013 Budget to the House of Commons.

George Osborne said that: "This is a Budget for people who aspire to work hard and get on. It's a Budget for people who realise there are no easy answers to problems built up over many years. Just the painstaking work of putting right what went so badly wrong. And together with the British people we are, slowly but surely, fixing our country's economic problems."

The key points are:

• The deficit is now down by a third. It was 11.2% of GDP in 2009/10. In 2012/13 it is now forecast to be 7.4% of GDP.
• The Personal Allowance is to rise to £10,000. This means that tax for those on minimum wage will have more than halved compared with last Labour Government.
• Corporation Tax in the UK is to be reduced to 20% by 2015.
• The beer escalator is scrapped and the cost of a pint is down by 1p.
• From 2014 the Government will introduce a new "Employment Allowance", which takes the first £2000 off the employer National Insurance bill of every business. This means that one third of all employers in the UK will not pay employers NICs at all.
• From 2015/16 the Government will increase its infrastructure spending plans by £3 billion a year, paid for by permanent reductions in current Departmental spending. This will mean an additional £15 billion investment in infrastructure by the end of the next Parliament.
• The UK is abolishing a financial transaction tax, removing the stamp duty on shares in companies quoted on growth markets such as the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and the ISDX Growth Market.

The full Budget speech is on the Conservative Party's website
The full Red Book is available from HM Treasury

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