Hundreds of MPs are unaware of many of the policies put in place to aid entrepreneurs and boost tech.
The Parliamentary Snapshot survey has revealed 48% of MPs haven’t heard about the Tech City UK organisation that was launched in 2010.
A further 13% have heard of it but do not know if it has been effective and 4% believe it has had no impact.
By 2016, UK tech is expected to account for 12% of British GDP, rapidly approaching the 14% that is driven by financial services.
Differences in policy opinion
The survey conducted by YouGov also shed light on the vast differences between Conservative and Labour opinion on helping entrepreneurs.
While Tories were strongly in favour of cutting regulation and lowering personal income tax to help entrepreneurs, Labour MPs were more in favour of increasing spending on grants, loans, and support services.
The biggest split in opinion came to Europe’s involvement in British business. 91% of Tory MPs were in favour of exempting the UK from EU business regulation, compared to 15% of Labour MPs.
Classroom coding
The one policy both sides were able to agree on was increasing spending to close the skills gap. Around 90% of MPs from both parties were in favour of the policy.
As of today, schools have to start teaching how to program as a result of changes to the national curriculum.
The hope behind the change is that the UK will be able to produce students with the sufficient skills to contribute to the country’s growing tech industry.
Reason to worry?
Many will be concerned about the split in opinion on policies, as well as the lack of knowledge about existing ones.
Philip Salter, Director of The Entrepreneur’s Network for whom the survey was conducted, believes the unfamiliarity with policies is worrying.
As things stand, MPs don’t appear adequately informed to vote on future policy changes impacting entrepreneurs.
Also, MPs should be familiar with these schemes so that they are able to pass on details to the many entrepreneurs they meet in their constituencies.