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9 Feb 2010 : Column 960W—continued
(iii) Business Link West Midlands (BLWM) is the main provider of business support in the region. It helped 135 businesses to start in Sandwell during 2007-08, 202 in 2008-09 and has assisted a further 170 businesses to start-up in the 10 months to the end of January 2010. BLWM also provided intensive assistance to 546 businesses in the borough in 2007-08, 825 in 2008-09 and 632 in the first 10 months of the current financial year.
(iv) AWM has offered Grants for Business Investment (GBI) funding to 42 firms in Sandwell since 2004. The grants were worth a total of £5.9 million and have created 483 new jobs and safeguarded a further 554.
(v) Between September and December 2009 19 companies in the automotive supply chain based in Sandwell received £338,740 support under the £4.5 million Automotive Recovery Programme (ARP). The programme was funded by AWM and the European Regional Development Fund and managed by the Manufacturing Advisory Service-West Midlands (MAS-WM). Following a robust capability review it funded specialist strategic consultancy to provide struggling component part makers with help with business consolidation, refinancing, new product introduction and restructuring. Six of the companies have already returned results showing that the assistance provided has led to business
worth over £20 million being safeguarded or obtained, leading to the creation of safeguarding of 58 jobs.
(vi) In December, Stoford Ltd. signed an agreement with BT for 75,000 sq ft of office space at its new £55 million All Saints office development in West Bromwich. The building will support BT's Transform Sandwell partnership with Sandwell metropolitan borough council creating up to 450 new jobs. Advantage West Midlands has committed £11 million to the All Saints project.
Students: Lewes
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people from the Lewes district council area became full-time undergraduate students in each year since 1997; and how many such people (a) were from each socio-economic group and (b) had parents from each socio-economic group. [315773]
Mr. Lammy: Information for Lewes district council area is not available and figures for Lewes constituency are provided as an alternative.
Figures for each academic year from 2002-03 to 2007-08 are provided in the attached table. Socio-economic classification (SEC) was introduced into higher education student data in the 2002-03 academic year and, therefore, figures for earlier years (which show the former social classification) are not comparable.
Figures are provided for full-time undergraduate entrants aged under 21, and 21 and over, as data on socio-economic class is gathered on a different basis for these two distinct age groups. Socio-economic class is derived from information on occupation. For entrants aged under 21 this is based on the occupation of their parent, and for those aged 21 and over it is based on their own occupation.
Figures for the 2008-09 academic year have been excluded from this answer as they are not directly comparable with those for 2002-03 to 2007-08 due to a change in the way parental or student occupation information was gathered. As a result of the change, it is not possible to determine whether the 2008-09 socio-economic class relates to the student or their parent.
| Full-time undergraduate entrants from Lewes constituency( 1) by age and socio-economic classification( 2) : UK higher education institutions( 3-) academic years 2002-03 to 2007-08 | ||||||||||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |||||||
| Socio-economic classification | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ | <21 | 21+ |
| (1) The table does not include entrants where the constituency of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid information. (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) Figures exclude the Open University due to inconsistencies in their coding of entrants across the time series. (4) Covers students whose socio-economic classification was missing, not classified or 'Never worked and long-term unemployed". Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded up or down to the nearest five, therefore components may not sum to totals. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) | ||||||||||||
UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation
Nick Harvey: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with which companies the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation has key account management relationships; and what the purpose of such a relationship is in each case. [315189]
Ian Lucas: As part of its customer-focused engagement strategy, UK Trade and Investment's Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) has key account management relationships with (in alphabetical order):
BAE Systems
Chemring
Cobham
EADS UK
Finmeccanica UK companies
General Dynamics UK
Lockheed Martin UK
MBDA UK
Northrop Grumman UK
QinetiQ
Rolls-Royce plc
Smiths Detection
Thales UK.
Additional key account relationships are planned.
These relationships consist of formal engagement to increase understanding of the company's strategic priorities, enabling DSO to provide enhanced support.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who the members are of (a) the UK Trade and Industry Defence and Security Organisation Defence Advisory Group and (b) the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation Security Advisory Group; what the background is of each such member; and when each was appointed. [315190]
Ian Lucas: Current membership of the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation (a) Defence Advisory Group and (b) Security Advisory Group are included in the following tables. Members of the Defence Advisory Group were appointed from 1 July 2008; members of the Security Advisory Group were appointed on 4 August 2008 except for the last two named who were appointed on 1 December 2009. The members attend and offer their advice on a personal basis, drawing from their experience in, or related to, the defence and security sectors.
| Defence Advisory Group members | |
| Name | Company |
| Security Advisory Group members | |
| Name | Company |
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