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21 July 2009 : Column 1745W—continued
(v) Four businesses have received investment from the region's venture capital funds totalling £727,060.
These figures include £75,000 CDFI funding for three businesses in Tamworth and £100,000 from venture capital funds for one business in the town.
Companies can also receive advice including free business Health Checks from Business Link. The Health Check looks at the whole of a business operation including strategy, markets, productivity, skills and finance.
In the year to March 2009 Business Link West Midlands provided the following support to businesses in Tamworth:
(i) In-depth reviews with 121 businesses and skills reviews with a further 58 businesses
(ii) Information support to 825 businesses
The support provided to businesses in the rest of Staffordshire in the year to March 2009 was as follows:
(i) In-depth business reviews with 1,753 businesses and skills reviews with a further 682 businesses.
(ii) information support to 9,167 businesses
Business Link also provided information about starting a business to 319 individuals in Tamworth and 3,035 in the rest of Staffordshire, helping 31 businesses in Tamworth and 396 in the rest of the county to start during the year.
Business Link has also run business clinics and credit crunch and other events throughout Staffordshire. UK Trade and Investment assistance with exporting is provided by through the Staffordshire International Trade Team based at the North Staffordshire Chamber.
Social Work: Higher Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) applicants and (b) successful applicants there were for General Social Care Council-accredited social work degree courses in each of the last 10 years. [287254]
Mr. Lammy: Prior to 2005, parallel to the main UCAS system administering admissions for social work degrees, UCAS operated the Social Work Admissions System (SWAS), for entry on to diplomas in social work. Entry to diplomas in social work was last available for 2004 entry-these were replaced by three-year social work degree courses or two-year postgraduate diplomas. The admissions for the degrees and some postgraduate masters diplomas were absorbed into mainstream UCAS for 2005 entry. The figures in the table include applicants to full-time first degree courses only.
From 2002 entry, UCAS switched from using the Standard Academic Classification of Subjects (SCAS) to the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS).
The information is in the following table:
| UK domiciled applicants and accepted applicants to full-time first degree social work courses in UK institutions 1998-2008 | ||
| Academic year of entry | Applicants | Accepts |
Applicants data refers to applicants making at least one choice to a full-time first degree course in social work (applicants applying solely to higher national certificates, higher national diplomas, foundation degrees or postgraduate masters diplomas are not counted).
Accepted applicant data refers to applicants being accepted to a full-time first degree course in social work.
Spaceflight
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the merits of establishing a space agency for the UK; and what estimate he has made of (a) the likely cost and (b) the number of staff that would be required for the functioning of such an agency. [278671]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 8 June 2009]: The Minister for Science and Innovation has discussed with the British National Space Centre partnership to determine whether a formal assessment should be undertaken on the structure of BNSC. As a result, a public consultation on how UK civil space activities can best be funded and managed will be launched formally on 22 July to take on board the wider views of stakeholders and the general public.
Strategic Investment Fund
Charles Hendry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) whether (a) charities and (b) public sector bodies will be eligible for (i) grants and (ii) loans under the Strategic Investment Fund; [285034]
(2) when he expects to publish plans for the allocation of funding from the Strategic Investment Fund; [285035]
(3) what categories of businesses will be eligible for (a) grants and (b) loans under the Strategic Investment Fund. [285036]
Mr. McFadden:
The aim of the Strategic Investment Fund is to help ensure that the UK remains well positioned to emerge from the economic downturn in a globally competitive position. Although the SIF it is not a fund
to which businesses, charities or public sector organisations can apply directly, BIS seeks and continues to welcome a broad engagement with business and other organisations to understand opportunities and challenges they face as well as the areas in which Government action can have a bigger impact.
Investments will be prioritised on where there are economic opportunities for UK-based businesses and where government action can make a real and beneficial impact. All proposals will be appraised to ensure that they have a clear rationale, that Government intervention will make a difference and that they provide good value for money in delivering longer term benefits to the UK wide economy. The project portfolio will seek to ensure that funds are complementing markets and that interventions are prioritised on the basis of scale of impact on the economy through addressing barriers to growth in areas of opportunity.
There are number of proposals currently being considered to help deliver the Government's strategy as set out in the 'Building Britain's Future - New Industry New Jobs' document published on 20 April 2009. Within the context of that document the Government will be bringing forward more detailed statements of policy in the weeks and months ahead. A number of these may draw on the Strategic Investment Fund.
Charles Hendry:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what criteria his Department will use to determine what
spending under the Strategic Investment Fund will qualify as low-carbon spending. [285037]
Mr. McFadden: The first investments from the £250 million of funding allocated for low carbon economic development were set out in the Low Carbon Industrial Strategy on 15 July. All funding will be allocated, examining the costs and benefits, consistent with Green Book criteria.
Students: Hampshire
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people aged (a) 21 years and under and (b) over 21 years in each socio-economic group who were resident in (i) Test Valley borough and (ii) the City of Southampton attended university in each of the last five years. [288399]
Mr. Lammy: The number of full-time undergraduate enrolments at UK higher education institutions from Test Valley census district is given in table 1, and from Southampton local authority in table 2. Enrolments are given by socio-economic classification and by age group (under 21 and 21 and over). Socio-economic class information is not available for part time higher education students.
Figures for the 2008-09 academic year will be available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency in January 2010.
| Table 1: Full-time undergraduate enrolments from the Test Valley census district( 1) by age and socio-economic classification( 2) , UK higher education institutions, academic years 2003-04 to 2007-08 | ||||||||||
| 2003 - 04 | 2004 - 05 | 2005 - 06 | 2006 - 07 | 2007 - 08 | ||||||
| Socio-economic classification | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ |
| (1) The table does not include enrolments where the census district of the student cannot be established due to missing or home postcodes. (2) This field collects the socio-economic classification of students participating in HE if 21 or over at the start of their course or parental classification if under 21. (3) Information is not comprehensively collected on the "Never worked and long-term unemployed" category for students. Students who fit this group are usually classed as having missing information. (4) Covers students whose socio-economic classification was missing or not classified: not classified includes occupations which were inadequately described, not classifiable or unstated. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded up or down to the nearest five, so components may not sum to totals. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) | ||||||||||
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