Hull City Council and the Youth Enterprise Partnership have influenced the All-Party Group for Micro Businesses who have launched their fifth report since being established in 2010.

Entitled ‘An education system fit for an entrepreneur’, the report recognises the key role entrepreneurs play in the drive for growth, and looks at the effectiveness of the education system in supporting young entrepreneurs.

The report investigated, for the first time, best practice from primary schools that included the work of the £5 Blossom programme through to retirement with examples chosen from around the world and the UK. The report includes an examination of the cognitive psychology behind the entrepreneurial mindset, real case studies and up-to-date survey data.

Although the concept of enterprise education has been discussed since 1987, this is the first UK report which looks at the need for an overarching strategy across all government departments to deliver the support needed for entrepreneurs to flourish.

Ross Bennett, Chair Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership said:

“We were delighted to be involved in this report as it illustrates what we have achieved as a partnership over the last 10 years in particular through our primary enterprise programme, our well respected activities during Global Entrepreneurship Week, the city’s Youth Enterprise Bank and our Youth Enterprise Summit.

“More small businesses, creating more jobs are a vital part of a long-term plan for Hull and Britain’s future and young people are integral to that.”

Anne Marie Morris MP said:

“Enterprise education is crucially important if the growth agenda is to succeed. We need to create enquiring minds open to new ideas and able to spot opportunities. We also need to ensure education in entrepreneurship is available to all, not just those that make it to business school.

“Entrepreneurs emerge across the age range. I met a young lad of nine recently who had just set up his own business. As he put it “my teachers don’t get it”. Clearly many teachers do get it as our research shows but that support is not universally there – and it should not just be a matter of luck!

“I know the government is listening. But what we now need is to make real progress and set out concrete steps which I hope proposals from our report will provide the building blocks for.”

Professor Andy Penaluna, an author of the report said:

“What impressed us most were the education champions we met in Hull and the work of the city’s ‘Be enterprising’ group of teachers and tutors supported by Hull City Council which is linked to the aspirational City Plan.

“There is a clear energy amongst the educators that we met to engage with this important agenda, and they have evidenced the many creative ways that they have got things done – usually driven by the needs of their pupils and students via the use of ‘Big 13 Enterprise Skills’.

“The other remarkable thing was how many of the entrepreneurs echoed similar thoughts to those of the teachers, researchers and lecturers that we listened to over the past 14 months. Consequently a clear way forward has emerged.

“Now the debate can be less about what we need to do, but more directly concerned with ways in which we can implement these findings and to provide meaningful education that matches the needs of an innovative and entrepreneurial society.”

Entrepreneurs are a real strength of our British economy and the micro businesses they create are key drivers of growth.

Over the last three years, there have been 400,000 new businesses created and business start ups have become increasingly popular.

Small businesses add 48% to private sector turnover and comprise more than 99% by number of UK businesses.

There is a growing recognition that setting up your own business is a real opportunity and option for people.

Top ten recommendations to support Enterprise Education:

An overarching strategy by government looking at enterprise education from primary school to retirement needs to be established, based on clear opportunities at all levels of education and for work returners.

Clarity needs to be established as to what we mean by enterprise education and entrepreneurship education, both of which are crucially important but different.

Teacher training should be reviewed to give teachers a better basis for engaging with the business community for the benefit of students.

OFSTED assessments need to assess business engagement not just community engagement.

The Higher Education sector needs to provide a module on entrepreneurship. This should be made available to all students regardless of discipline and enterprise education needs, over time, to be integrated into all mainstream courses. UUK, HEFCE and associated bodies need to step forward and practically develop this.

A working group needs to be established across academe and business to put forward proposals for integrating work experience, education, mentoring and funding; the four strands which combine to deliver the best results when combined.

A working group also needs to be established to look quite separately at work returners and what support should be available to enable them to set up in business later on in life.

The business community should be incentivised and encouraged to be more actively involved in enterprise and entrepreneurship education through tax reliefs allowing time and expenses engaging in enterprise education to be set off against tax.

The Local Enterprise Partnerships should be required to have at least t wo board members from the SME community and at least one of these should be a micro business.

Government funding support to LEPS through the Regional Growth Fund and other government support schemes should require evidence before award of LEP engagement with enterprise education