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14 Sep 2009 : Column 2177Wcontinued
Additionally, since April 2006 19 Essex businesses have been awarded £384,712 in Proof of Concept grants, with a further one approved with the value of £8,000. Since April 2004, 19 Essex businesses have received funding Grant for Business Investment (GBI) to the value of £1,242,035(1).
TakeItOn-49 grants to Essex businesses since December 2007 have totalled £135,596.
(1) Some of the above are grants to businesses under either the Grants for Business Investment (GBI) or Grant for Research and Development (GRaD) programmes. GBI, previously known as Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE), transferred to EEDA from the Small Business Service (SBS) in April 2002. GRaD transferred to EEDA from SBS in April 2005.
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department and its predecessors allocated to the development of information technology businesses in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [282147]
Mr. Lammy: EEDA funds a range of regional services to support businesses from all sectors across the region. This includes the regional Business Link service, specialised support schemes and Business Finance grants for eligible businesses.
While all of these services are available to support IT businesses across the region, EEDA does not specifically allocate money by sector or area.
Where possible, direct grants to IT businesses in Essex and Castle Point have been identified:
EEDA business finance grants-Grants to help businesses prove their market or expand their business and a range of loans to support business growth. Since April 2007, EEDA has provided £151,483 to IT businesses in Essex(1).
TakeITon-Campaign to assist businesses to improve their use of IT, focused on helping SMEs save costs through IT. This EEDA programme started in November 2007. Since then, it has provided £750,678 to help businesses make better use of IT in the region. Within this, £76,561 was provided to IT businesses in the region.
Of this, £4,572 was directly to IT businesses in Essex(2).
Business Link East-EEDA has funded the regional Business Link service since 1 April 2007 which supports businesses from all sectors. Since assuming management of the service, Business Link East has interacted with 41,790 businesses in Essex, of which 1,612 are in Castle Point.
(1) Some of the above are grants to businesses Grant for Research and Development (GRaD) programmes. GRaD transferred to EEDA from SBS in April 2005.
(2) This programme is aimed at increasing use of IT in businesses and therefore we would expect take-up from the IT sector to be low given their area of expertise.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many applications have been (a) received and (b) approved under the trade credit insurance top-up scheme in each month since the scheme was introduced; [290841]
(2) how much cover has been (a) requested and (b) approved under the trade credit insurance top-up scheme in each month since the scheme was introduced. [290844]
Ian Lucas [holding answer 9 September 2009]: As of 28 August there have been 59 approved applications to a value of £8,429,865 broken down as follows:
Number of policies accepted | Value of policies (£) | |
31 applications to a value of £1,915,210 have been rejected by the Trade Credit Insurers as being ineligible under the scheme rules. It is not possible to analyse these by month.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications made under the trade credit insurance top up scheme from businesses with an annual turnover of (a) less than £5 million, (b) between £5 and £10 million, (c) between £10 million and £25 million, (d) between £25 and £50 million, (e) between £50 and £100 million and (f) more than £100 million have been (i) accepted and (ii) rejected since the establishment of the scheme. [290842]
Ian Lucas [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The scheme is administered by four trade credit insurance companies, who collect a range of information on the Department's behalf. The information on acceptances and rejections does not disaggregate applicants by turnover.
As of 28 August, 59 applications have been accepted and 31 rejected.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications made under the trade credit insurance top up scheme have been rejected because applicants were seeking (a) cover in excess of the scheme's value criteria, (b) to replace withdrawn insurance rather than top up existing insurance arrangements, (c) to insure export business and (d) to replace cover reduced prior to October 2008. [290843]
Ian Lucas
[holding answer 9 September 2009]: The scheme is administered by the four trade credit insurers, who determine whether applications meet the eligibility criteria in accordance with scheme rules. As of 28 August,
31 applications have been rejected. Of these: (a) none was seeking cover in excess of the scheme's value criteria, (b) four were seeking to replace withdrawn insurance rather than top up existing insurance arrangements, (c) none was seeking to cover export business and (d) none was seeking to replace cover reduced prior to October 2008.
Mr. Howard: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the (a) rate and (b) percentage of business failure in Folkestone and Hythe constituency has been in each quarter since January 2005. [290871]
Ian Lucas [holding answer 9 September 2009]: When a failed incorporated business enters into an insolvency procedure it is counted in the official insolvency statistics. However, corporate insolvency figures are not currently available at a sub-national level.
Table 1 gives the numbers of corporate insolvencies, by type of procedure, in England and Wales as a whole for the period requested.
Bankruptcies among self-employed individuals are not routinely collated at constituency level, and the population figures from which a bankruptcy rate may be calculated are not readily available below local authority level.
Table 2 gives the number of bankruptcies among traders in England and Wales as a whole for the period requested.
Table 2 | |
Bankruptcies among traders( 1) | |
n/a = Not yet available. (1) The Insolvency Trade Classification (ITC) was used to classify trading-related bankruptcies (and company liquidations) until end September 2006. From October 2006 the Standard Industry Classification 2003 has been in use and there have been associated changes to the method used to identify traders among bankrupts. The period covered should not, therefore, be treated as a consistent time series. |
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