There was very little in the Autumn Statement that directly affects business.
For small businesses there was an extension of the doubling of small business rate relief in England for a further 12 months to April 2017, at a cost to the Exchequer of £700m. This means that 405,000 of the smallest businesses will continue to benefit from 100% relief from business rates with a further 200,000 businesses having tapered business rates relief.
The government is aiming to increase the number of apprentices from the current 2 million to 3 million by 2020. An apprenticeship levy has been introduced for the largest 2% of employers from April 2017 to help finance this. The levy is expected to raise about £3bn annually soon after it is introduced.