According to the Federation of Small Businesses, which is keen to support the initiative, a similar scheme launched under a previous Conservative government created 36,000 businesses in one year and 74% of them were surviving after 18 months, by which stage 60% of start-ups have usually collapsed.

In the "where do we go from here" category, one thing I'd like to point out is that quite a number of guests who you have invited today belong to an organization called Businesses for Social Responsibility.