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27 Jan 2010 : Column 973W—continued
Banks: Finance
Jim Cousins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the monetary value of Government-guaranteed loans issued by UK banks (a) in total and (b) via the credit guarantee scheme in the last 12 months. [313280]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, the Government's loan guarantee scheme launched on 14 January 2009, 6,330 businesses have drawn down loans with a value of over £630 million as of 20 January 2010.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the monetary value of loans which remained outstanding in the Bank of England special liquidity scheme at the time the scheme closed. [313281]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I have been asked to reply.
The drawdown period for the Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS) closed on 30 January 2009. The nominal value of Treasury bills drawn down as of 30 January 2009 was £185 billion.
Further details can be found at:
Business Link: Stroud
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in Stroud constituency have received a health check from Business Link. [312755]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Business Link does not break this data down by parliamentary constituency, but 237 businesses have received health checks in the Stroud District Council area, between October 2008 and 31 December 2009.
Business: Ashford, Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in Ashford constituency have received a health check from Business Link. [313518]
Ms Rosie Winterton: 252 health checks have been conducted in Ashford between the launch of the service on 23 October 2008 and 18 December 2009, the latest date for which figures are available.
Business: Government Assistance
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) small, (b) medium-sized and (c) large businesses in Eastbourne have received assistance under the business loan scheme since the inception of that scheme. [302996]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 934W.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to support small and medium-sized businesses during the recession; and if he will make a statement. [310834]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This Department has introduced a range of measures to help businesses through the global recession and is continuing to provide help to promote growth during the recovery. Small and medium-sized businesses can find information and support at
or by contacting the Business Link Helpline on 0845 6009006.
The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) - encourages additional bank lending to viable businesses who have no or insufficient security and who would not otherwise secure a commercial loan. A £1.3 billion facility is in place to be accessed by the end of March 2010, and this was extended in the recent Pre-Budget Report for a further year to March 2011, with a £500 million budget for the financial year 2010-11. Over £1.09 billion of eligible EFG applications from over 9,700 firms have been granted, are being processed or assessed, and over 7,500 businesses have been offered loans totalling £763 million.
The Capital for Enterprise Fund (CfEF) - a £75 million fund supporting viable business with equity or mezzanine investment aimed at releasing and sustaining growth and can invest between £200,000 and £2 million where the business has exhausted its borrowing capacity with lenders. Offers totalling over £76 million have been made to 50 businesses, of which thirty one offers worth £47.7 million are live. 15 businesses have received investment so far totalling £19.9 million. Businesses who would like to explore whether the fund might benefit them can contact the fund managers assigned to their geographical location through
Health Checks through Business Link which provide a free review of a business with a professional business adviser for hands-on advice and help accessing the full range of government help. To date, nearly 104, 000 businesses have benefited from health checks. 79 per cent. of SMEs accessing Health Checks were satisfied with the information provided and of those who accessed additional support, 93 per cent. were satisfied with this further assistance. 86 per cent. of all assisted businesses would recommend Health Checks to other businesses(1).
(1) Early Assessment of Business Link Healthchecks - November 2009
Encouraging prompt payment - Government Departments have committed to pay their bills within 10 days to help small businesses, and we have encouraged big companies to sign up to a Code of Practice to help their suppliers. Up to now, 758 organisations have signed up to the code, including 25 FTSE 100 companies. We are also helping business manage their finances (over 109, 000 guides on 'Help with managing your cashflow' have already been downloaded from the BusinessLink.gov.uk website).
Additional flexibilities for SMEs were introduced into Train to Gain from January 2009 to help employers continue to train their staff through the recession in preparation for the recovery. These flexibilities included access to funding for repeat qualifications, the introduction of units of learning in business critical areas such as marketing and IT, and extension of the access to the leadership and management advisory service for very small SMEs (less than 10 employees). In 2008-09 academic year, over 559,800 SME employees have started courses through Train to Gain.
In addition, the Solutions for Business (SfB) portfolio is the Government's long term, simplified offer of support products for business. Government provide about £2 billion of support to business through the portfolio. Solutions for Business products offer help with common issues such as accessing finance, innovation, business
and manufacturing advice, research and development, knowledge sharing, skills and training, exporting and overseas trade, and resource efficiency, including low carbon. Small and medium-sized businesses can find information and support at
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what information his Department holds on the level of personal guarantees required by lenders in respect of the portion of each loan advanced under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme that is not guaranteed by the Government. [313142]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department holds no information the level of personal guarantees required by a lender. Lenders are required to record whether or not a personal guarantee has been taken with respect to each EFG facility guaranteed. The level of personal guarantee is a matter for the lender concerned and will vary according to the commercial lending practices of each lender.
Lenders are entitled to require a personal guarantee covering some or all the proposed EFG facility. That personal guarantee must be specific to the EFG facility and must not be solely or preferentially attributed to cover the lender's 25 per cent. exposure which is not covered by the Government 75 per cent. guarantee.
Lenders are not permitted to take a direct charge over a principal private residence for a new EFG facility.
Cadbury Schweppes: Kraft Foods
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on the proposed takeover of Cadbury by Kraft; and what discussions the Government has had with Kraft on that matter. [313084]
Ian Lucas: The Government have received numerous letters expressing concern about this matter. The Secretary of State has received written assurances from the chief executive of Kraft about Cadbury's production, legacy and workforce. The Secretary of State is also seeking an early meeting with Kraft senior management to hear how the company will fulfil the commitments they have made to Cadbury, its workforce and long term future.
Conditions of Employment
Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 10 September 2007, Official Report, column 2011W, on conditions of employment, what provisions of the Government's manifesto relating to the outcome of the National Policy Forum in July 2004 have (a) been implemented and (b) not been implemented. [312352]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the right hon. Member to my earlier responses of 10 September, 17 October 2007, Official Report, column 1148w and 14 September Official Report, column 2182w, to his questions on similar issues.
I reiterate that the Government continue to remain committed, on the conditions of employment, to fulfilling its May 2005 Manifesto over the course of this Parliament.
Departmental Fines
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what powers (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies has to impose administrative penalties; what the statutory basis is for each such powers; and how much (i) his Department and its predecessors and (ii) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies has recovered in administrative penalties in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [309294]
Mr. McFadden: The information requested is not held centrally within the Department and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Letters from the executive agencies follow.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 21 December 2009:
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question what powers (a) his Department and its predecessors and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies has to impose administrative penalties; what the statutory basis is for each such powers; and how much (i) his Department and its predecessors and (ii) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies has recovered in administrative penalties in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
The Insolvency Service does not hold power to impose any administrative penalties.
Letter from Sean Dennehey, dated 21 December 2009:
I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 16 December 2009, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The Intellectual Property Office does not levy administrative financial penalties.
Letter from Peter Mason, dated 15 January 2010:
I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 16 December 2009, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills concerning powers to impose administrative penalties.
The powers which this Agency exercises, relating to the regulation of legal weights and measures used in trade and the enforcement of various European Directives, do not currently extend to imposing administrative penalties.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 25 January 2010:
I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 16 December 2009, UIN 309294, to the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Companies House has responsibility for two types of administrative penalties.
Section 27 of the Companies Act 2006 provides the Registrar with the power to impose a civil penalty on a company for failure to comply with a notice to file a copy of the company's articles, or a document making or evidencing an alteration to the company's articles. This new section came into force in October 2009 and no penalties have yet been recovered.
Section 453 of the Companies Act 2006 (formerly section 242A of the Companies Act 1985) imposes civil penalties on companies that file their annual accounts after the due date. The Registrar of Companies has a duty to collect the penalties that have been imposed under this section of the Act. The amounts recovered in penalties for each of the last ten years are as follows:
| £ million | |
| (1) The higher than usual increase in 2008/09 is as a result of an increase in penalty levels agreed by Parliament on 6 April 2008. | |
All receipts are remitted to the consolidated fund. They are not retained by Companies House or the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Departmental Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department has allocated for (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses in 2009-10. [301300]
Mr. McFadden: BIS was formed through a MOG change that occurred in June 2009. The Department was created by merging The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). Due to the timing of the MOG change it was decided that both Departments would continue with separate remits for 2009-10 before producing a single BIS remit for 2010-11. The two former Departments have allocated the following amounts of money for performance awards in 2009-10:
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