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2 Apr 2009 : Column 1433W—continued
or by speaking to their local Business Link adviser on 0845 600 9 006.
There have been more than 255,000 visits to the Real Help campaign page on businesslink.gov since the launch of the campaign. 59,023 of those visited the Real Help with Finance webpage.
The Enterprise Finance Guarantee is delivered through participating lenders and we are working closely with them to ensure that they are doing all they can to promote the guarantee scheme across their branches.
The working capital scheme will provide banks with guarantees covering 50 per cent. of the risk on existing and new working capital portfolios worth up to £20 billion and is therefore not an instrument that is available directly to individual businesses.
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme began to operate. [261373]
Ian Pearson: The Enterprise Finance Guarantee came into operation on 14 January 2009.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps the Government is taking to promote the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme. [265953]
Ian Pearson: The Government's Real Help campaign publicises a range of support available to business, including the Enterprise Finance Guarantee. Businesses may find out about measures offering real help for businesses including an initial eligibility check via the Business Link website:
or by speaking to their local Business Link adviser on 0845 600 9 006.
There have been more than 255,000 visits to the Real Help campaign page on businesslink.gov since the launch of the campaign. 59,023 of those visited the Real Help with Finance webpage.
The Enterprise Finance Guarantee is delivered through participating lenders and we are working closely with them to ensure that they are doing all they can to promote the guarantee scheme across their branches.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what representations the Government has received from the British Chambers of Commerce in respect of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme. [265954]
Ian Pearson: The monthly Small Business Finance Forum, set up in November 2008, brings together Government, banks and small businesses to have an informed debate on issues pertaining to financial conditions facing banks and small businesses, including on EFG, and an opportunity to openly raise concerns. Membership of the forum consists of the main banks, the Bank of England, the BBA and the key small business representative bodies including the British Chamber of Commerce.
Business: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many companies in Wales have (a) applied for and (b) received assistance under the Capital for Enterprise Fund in each of the last six months. [261984]
Ian Pearson: The Capital for Enterprise Fund was launched as part of the package Real Help for Business on 14 January 2009. Five companies located in Wales and who meet the broad fund criteria are currently being considered for investment. Investments will be made as due diligence, commercial discussions and legal agreements are completed.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many companies in Wales have (a) applied for and (b) received help under the Working Capital Scheme since its inception. [261986]
Ian Pearson: The Working Capital Scheme is not available directly to businesses. The scheme enables participating banks to increase the amount of working capital they can make available to businesses.
Capital Enterprise Scheme
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many applications have been made to the Capital Enterprise Scheme. [256178]
Ian Pearson: The Capital for Enterprise Fund (CfEF) is targeted at small businesses who have exhausted their traditional borrowing capacity. The CfEF will provide £75 million of equity to these businesses.
As at 25 March 2009, there have been 1,013 inquires to the Capital for Enterprise Fund Registration Helpline with 311 businesses seriously exploring whether the fund may be of benefit to them.
253 businesses have registered their interest in the Fund and out of these 51 businesses have met the eligibility criteria and have supplied all the required information.
Child Care Vouchers
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether organisations which offer salary sacrifice child care vouchers are required to offer child care vouchers when employees are on maternity, paternity and parental leave. [268638]
Mr. McFadden: During ordinary maternity leave (weeks 1-26) an employee is entitled to benefit from all the normal terms and conditions of her employment except wages and salary. For women whose babies are due on or after 5 October 2008, this entitlement continues during additional maternity leave (weeks 27-52).
During statutory paternity leave, an employee is entitled to benefit from all the normal terms and conditions of his employment except wages and salary.
Examples of benefits that should continue include any company car, contractual annual leave or child care vouchers that are provided as part of the contract of employment. This is true, even if the benefit is linked to salary sacrifice arrangement.
During parental leave, only certain terms and conditions of employment continue. This would not include any right to child care vouchers.
Christmas
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether it is his Department’s policy to offer staff (a) additional leave entitlement for Christmas shopping and (b) Christmas bonus payments. [262814]
Mr. McFadden: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) does not have a policy which (a) provides additional leave entitlement for Christmas shopping or (b) Christmas bonus payments.
Clemmow Hornby Inge Partners
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what contracts his Department has awarded to Clemmow Hornby Inge Partners since 1 January 2007; and on what dates (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have met representatives of Clemmow Hornby Inge Partners since that date. [267847]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 30 March 2009]: Central records indicate that no contracts have been awarded to Clemmow Hornby Inge Partners by this Department since 1 January 2007 nor have they worked on any BERR business since then. There is no record of Ministers or officials meeting Clemmow Hornby Inge Partners since 1 January 2007.
Construction: Billing
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps he plans to take to ensure that payments to subcontractors of tier one contractors on construction projects funded from the public purse are made within 10 days of receipt of invoice. [258748]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 25 February 2009]: Government Departments are required to pay all invoices within 10 days and tier 1 contractors are required by contract to pay their invoices within 30 days. Departments are however, encouraging all their tier 1 contractors, including those on construction projects, to pass on the 10-day payment terms in the head contract to their subcontractors.
Construction: Manpower
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the proportion of workers in the bricklaying industry who are (a) British citizens, (b) nationals of (i) A8 countries, (ii) A2 countries and (iii) other EU countries and (c) non-EU nationals. [267735]
Ian Pearson: This Department does not collect this information.
Departmental Detergents
Annette Brooke: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make it his policy to ensure that no cleaning products or ingredients of cleaning products used by his Department have been tested on animals. [261134]
Mr. McFadden: This Department’s current contract with our cleaning services provider states that all cleaning products used should be environmentally friendly as per Office of Government Commerce guidance.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many (a) BlackBerrys and (b) mobile telephones were provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005. [266327]
Mr. McFadden: The information is as follows:
(a) The Department has deployed BlackBerry services to staff since 2006 through the Office of Government Commerce’s mobile telecommunication services contract. From the records available the total number of BlackBerry services provided each year since 2006 has been:
| Ministers | Special Advisers | Other Staff | |
(b) The Department uses the Office of Government Commerce’s mobile telecommunication services contract to provide official mobile telephones to staff. No detailed information is available on the total number of services that have been deployed to Ministers and their special advisers. During this period all Ministers and special advisers have had access to mobile telephones from a central pool of handsets operated by the ministerial offices. Information on the total number of mobile telephone services provided to all BERR staff each year is only held from 2008.
| Total number of staff mobiles provided | |
Departmental Manpower
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many (a) permanent, (b) agency and (c) temporary staff on contracts of (i) up to three months, (ii) between three and six months, (iii) between six and 12 months and (iv) 12 months or more there are in each directorate of his Department. [264317]
Mr. McFadden: We do not hold this information in the form requested and it could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many items of correspondence his Department sent by (a) Royal Mail and (b) other commercial delivery services in each of the last five years; and what the reasons were for the use of services other than Royal Mail. [264535]
Mr. McFadden: This Department has sent the following number of items via Royal Mail first and second class post over the last five financial years from its central London buildings:
| Number of items s ent | |
BERR have not used another commercial delivery service. Information sent from BERR offices outside of central London is not available centrally.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what resource funds his Department has
brought forward from its (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 budgets for use in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and what schemes this funding is being used to support. [267401]
Mr. McFadden: No resource spending has been brought forward at the present time.
Details of BERR's capital spend were given in my answer to the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Williams) on 12 January 2009, Official Report, columns reference 451-52W.
No capital expenditure has been brought forward.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the (a) production and printing and (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report. [266701]
Mr. McFadden: BERR produces an ‘Annual Report and Accounts’, combining the Departmental Report and Resource Accounts. We estimate the costs of production and printing for the BERR Annual Report and Accounts 2007-08 to have been £33,278. This figure includes design, typesetting and printing.
The BERR Autumn Performance Report 2008 was published online;
We estimate the costs of production, and printing of a limited number of hard copies, to have been £378.75.
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