More children are to be encouraged to become contractors and entrepreneurs thanks to a new government scheme, Young Enterprise has said.

John May, chief executive of the charity, said that young people getting a sense of what it means to be an entrepreneur could be more likely to go into the sector.

He said that the entrepreneurial spirit should be nurtured from primary school upwards.

"Young people who have had this experience are more passionate about their jobs, more successful in their careers and twice as likely to start their own business as their peers," he explained.

This comes after news that the government will support every school which wishes to develop and run its own business as a part of the Enterprise Champions Programme.

Tenner Tycoon, run by the Peter Jones Foundation, is also to be rolled out - allowing young people to take their business ideas further.