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Enterprise
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department has taken to increase enterprise in the West Suffolk constituency since 1997. [85501]
Margaret Hodge: Through the Government office for the East of England and the East of England development agency (BEDA) the Department has made considerable progress in increasing enterprise across the region.
The main initiatives have been through Business Link, ‘SMART’ Grants for research and development and community investment.
The funding to support Business Link branded activities from 1 April 1997 through to 31 March 2006 has been derived from DTI, SBS, EEDA, DFES, DEFRA, the European Social Fund, European Structural Funds and from local authorities.
The spending profile for the whole of Suffolk has risen from £1.658 million in 1997-98 to £4.948 million in 2004-05 with a total of £28.866 million spent across the whole of Suffolk since 1997 and circa £14 million in the west of the county.
Delivery under the brand by Business Link and its partners has primarily consisted of the provision of information, advice, assisted consultancy, grants etc. and comprises a whole series of activities related to the start-up and the development of small medium enterprises.
A total of £400,000 of funding has been raised for West Suffolk companies since 1997.
There has also been Community investment of circa £2.3 million since 1997 which includes:
Sudbury Community Energy SRB project—£1,087,700
Working Together Suffolk Rural (County-wide)—£268,864
Foundation East (formally Suffolk Regeneration Trust)—£814,000
Approved enterprise activity in the 2006-07 Suffolk IiC business plan commencing shortly (some interventions county-wide)—£130,000.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government is taking to encourage enterprise among people agedover 30. [85919]
Margaret Hodge: The Government are pursuing a range of programmes to encourage enterprise in the over 30s.
Providing the information, advice and support needed for entrepreneurs to start, maintain and grow a business through the Business Link service in England, and its counterparts in the Devolved Administrations.
Providing a targeted programme of support through the New Deal to suitable unemployed people, offering advice and training from a specialist provider.
Pump priming the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise (PRIME) with revenue and loan guarantee support through the DTI’s Phoenix Fund. This has supported entrepreneurial activity amongst over 50’s across the country.
Creating a Taskforce on Women’s Enterprise to accelerate the development of women’s enterprise. Regional Development Agencies are piloting Women's Enterprise Units to trial different approaches to supporting the start-up and growth of women-owned businesses.
Supporting a programme of activity led by the Ethnic Minority Business Forum to promote enterprise amongst ethnic minority groups. A three-year action plan was published in December 2005.
Running ‘Enterprising Britain’, an annual national competition to find the country’s most enterprising city, town, place or area, which showcases what is being done to support a stronger, more dynamic enterprise culture across the UK.
Increasing the resources available to RDAs, all of whom are tasked with encouraging enterprise, with targets for the number of new businesses created and surviving in their regions.
Enterprise Insight
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people are employed in each of the (a) local and (b) sectoral enterprise campaigns established by Enterprise Insight; when the recruitment process for these will be completed; what costs have been incurred in recruiting people for these posts; and when each campaign will be fully operational. [85680]
Margaret Hodge: All the Local and Sectoral Enterprise Campaign Hubs are expected to be fully functional by the end of September 2006.
At present, one person has been appointed for the Lowestoft Local Enterprise Campaign Hub, and a further five people will be taking up their roles in other hubs over the next six weeks.
Enterprise Insight aims to recruit a total of twenty-one people to work on these elements of their work. The recruitment process should be completed by the end of September 2006.
Expenditure incurred to date on the recruitment for the Local and Sectoral Hubs is £49,284.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to his Answer of 17 July 2006, Official Report, column 135W, on Enterprise Insight, what targets have been set for Enterprise Week 2006; what funding was provided for Enterprise Insight in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2004-05; and what funding has been allocated for (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09. [87375]
Margaret Hodge: Targets for Enterprise Insight in relation to Enterprise Week 2006 have been agreed as follows:
Number of events in Enterprise Week 2006—3,000;
Number of Enterprise Week 2006 participants—500,000;
Number of teams taking part in the 2006 ‘Make Your Mark’ Challenge—4,000;
Number of entries to the 2006 Enterprising Young Brits —2,000;
Editorial value of media coverage—£6.5million;
Number of TV partners on board—8.
The funding provided for Enterprise Insight in 2004-05 was £763,000, and in 2005-06 was £2 million. The funding allocated for Enterprise Insight for 2007-08 is £5 million as detailed in paragraph 16 of the 2004 Spending Review. No funding has yet been allocated for Enterprise Insight in 2008-09.
EU Convergence Funding
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what timetable has been set for the delivery of the EU Convergence Funding programme to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly between 2007 and 2013. [87610]
Margaret Hodge: The EU Institutions are currently finalising a new package of legislation to govern future Structural Funds Programmes for the 2007-13 financial period. All of the new legislation is expected to come into force in the autumn.
Once the new legislation is agreed, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, like other UK regions, will need to submit a draft Operational Programme to the European Commission for negotiation and approval. Partners in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are currently working on producing a draft, which will in due course be submitted to a full consultation.
The first budget commitment for the Operational Programme will be made by the Commission at the time that they adopt the decision approving the Operational Programme.
However, expenditure will be eligible for a contribution from the Funds from 1 January 2007 or the date on which the European Commission deem the Operational Programme admissible if that occurs earlier.
EU Directives
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost was to his Department of implementing and administering EU directives, regulations and policies decided in 2005-06. [86751]
Mr. McCartney: The Department hold no records centrally relating to the origin of regulations and policies. The length of development, negotiation and implementation varies enormously from policy to policy and it would be hard to obtain a meaningful figure. Deriving such figures would incur a disproportionate cost. All proposals, which impact on business, charities or the voluntary sector, require a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) which includes details of the costs, benefits and risks of the proposal. Costs to Government including enforcement costs are included in the RIA. Copies of final RIAs are placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many full-time equivalent staff are employed in his Department to implement and administer EU directives, regulations and policies. [86753]
Mr. McCartney: The Department does not record the cost or the number of staff required for negotiating and implementing regulatory directives, regulations and policies emanating from Europe.
Food Trading Relationships
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many representations his Department has received on the trading relationships through the food supply chain from primary producers to supermarkets in each of the last three years. [87517]
Mr.
McCartney: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State,
myself, our predecessors and DTI officials have received a significant
number of representations,
including from the Association of Convenience Stores, the British Retail
Consortium, supplier representatives, the Independent Retailers
Association, the National Consumer Council, individual members of the
public, interested MPs and the major
supermarkets.
Figures for the number of representations are not held centrally.
Fuel Bills
Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much on average domestic gas and electricity bills have increased in real terms between the first quarter of 2003 and the most recent quarter for which information is available. [87435]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information is as follows:
Domestic gas prices have risen by 31 per cent. in real terms in the first quarter of 2006 compared to the first quarter of 2003. This increase has resulted in domestic gas prices being at their highest level since the third quarter of 1988.
Domestic electricity prices have risen by 20 per cent. in real terms in the first quarter of 2006 compared to the first quarter of 2003. Despite this increase, prices are still 12 per cent. below 1990 levels in real terms.
Fuel Supply Mix Options
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment his Department has made of the fuel supply mix options for the power generation sector that would be available should a policy decision be taken not to enable new nuclear plants to be built. [82095]
Malcolm Wicks: In its Energy Review Report, published on 11 July, the Government concluded that, over the next few years, new investment in power generation is likely to be in renewables and gas-fired power stations. Longer term there are other low carbon forms of generation that can contribute to meeting our goals. In particular, the Government concluded that new nuclear power stations could make a significant contribution to meeting our energy policy goals. It will be for the power sector to initiate, fund, construct and operate new power generation and to meet all associated costs.
Furniture Imports
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will reply to the letter of 18 April 2006 from the hon. Member for Billericay about sofas imported from eastern Europe. [70339]
Mr. Darling [holding answer 12 May 2006]: A response to this letter was sent on 24 May.
Grant Schemes
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much he expects will be distributed to companies under grant schemes administered by the Department in 2006-07. [86752]
Margaret Hodge: The Department of Trade and Industry expects to distribute £314 million to companies under the grant schemes for 2006-07.
Heat Delivery Networks
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what work his Department sponsors into the development of local distributed networks for heat delivery. [87634]
Malcolm Wicks: The DTI co-chairs with Ofgem the Electricity Networks Strategy Group. This is a body made up of industry representatives who advise on how the networks can help deliver energy goals. Work programmes, largely funded by the DTI, research a variety of issues. Previous work has addressed barriers which prevented distributed generation connecting to the network. This has helped remove barriers to the development of combined heat and power.
High Energy-Using Industries
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the change in the number of jobs in (a) ceramics, (b) glass, (c) paper and (d) other high energy using industries was in the last year for which figures are available. [86756]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Changes in the average yearly employment between 2003 and 2004 for the 15 highest energy using production industry groups (3-digit Standard Industrial Classification level, except for construction) in terms of consumption of tonnes of oil equivalents are shown in the table. Information is included for the ceramics production industry groups, which are not high energy using industries applying this definition.
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