§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement about the local boundaries for the Small Business Service. [96729]
§ Ms HewittIn July, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry asked for the advice of the Regional Development Agencies and the London Development Partnership on the boundaries for local delivery of services on behalf of the Small Business Service and the proposed Learning and Skills Council. After widespread consultation in each region, the RDAs and LDP have provided that advice to us and we have given it very careful consideration.
937WI can now announce that the boundaries for the 45 Small Business Service local areas are as follows:
Region Areas North West 7 Cumbria Mersey side/Halton East Lancashire West and North Lancashire Cheshire/Warrington Greater Manchester (2) North East 4 Tyne and Wear County Durham Tees Valley Northumberland West Midlands 6 Birmingham and Solihull Staffordshire Shropshire Herefordshire and Worcestershire The Black Country Coventry and Warwickshire Yorkshire and The Humber 4 North Yorkshire South Yorkshire West Yorkshire Humberside East Midlands 5 Lincolnshire (including Rutland) Northamptonshire Leicestershire Derbyshire Nottinghamshire East of England 6 Bedfordshire Essex Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire Norfolk Suffolk London 1 (with 5 local delivery operations) South East 6 Surrey East Sussex/West Sussex/Brighton and Hove Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire/Milton Keynes Kent/Medway Hampshire/Isle of Wight/Portsmouth/Southampton Bracknell Forest/West Berkshire/Reading/Slough/Windsor/Maidenhead/Workingham South West 6 Devon and Cornwall Somerset Gloucestershire Bournemouth/Dorset/Poole Wiltshire/Swindon The Former Avon A copy has been placed in the Library of the House. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Lifelong Learning and I will be writing to hon. Members with full information about the new areas.
938WMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment are grateful to the RDAs and LDP for their advice.