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3 Nov 2008 : Column 236W—continued
Rural Areas
Mr. Paice: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in respect of which of his Department's public service agreements rural proofing of departmental policies is stipulated. [230739]
Mr. McFadden: BERR leads on three cross-Government public service agreements (PSAs)—PSA 1 (Raise the productivity of the UK economy); PSA 6 (Deliver the conditions for business success in the UK); and PSA 7 (Improve the economic performance of all English regions and reduce the gap in economic growth rates between regions). BERR has signed up as a key delivery partner for the following PSAs: PSA 2 (Improve the skills of the population, on the way to ensuring a world-class skills base by 2020); PSA 8 (Maximise employment opportunity for all); and PSA 27 (Lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change). It is a requirement for all new policies and programmes to be subject to an impact assessment which includes rural proofing.
Small Firms Loan Guarantee
Alan Duncan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which business sectors are excluded from the Small Firms Loan Guarantee; and if he will make a statement. [229061]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 22 October 2008]: The small Firms Loan Guarantee is available to qualifying businesses in most business sectors. Sectoral restrictions apply principally in the transport, agriculture, coal and steel sectors. Restrictions generally arise from either the Industrial Development Act of 1982, which provides the statutory basis for SFLG, or from European State Aid rules designed to prevent public interventions from distorting the market. In April 2003, sectoral restrictions on retail, catering and other local service businesses were removed.
Alan Duncan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many instances of default claims have been made under the Small Firms Loan Guarantee in each of the last five years. [229063]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 22 October 2008]: The following table sets out the number of defaults made against the SFLG Guarantee over each of the last five full calendar years.
| Number of SFLG demands | |
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