§ 4. Mr. CarringtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the progress of the loan guarantee scheme.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Employment (Mr. John Cope)The loan guarantee scheme will continue in operation and the maximum loan under it will increase from £75,000 to £100,000. Nearly 21,000 guarantees have been issued for a total of £680 million of loans since the LGS started.
§ Mr. CarringtonI am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer. He will know how welcome is the great success of this scheme, especially the increase to 85 per cent. in the loan guarantee scheme for the inner city task force areas. Is my right hon. Friend also prepared to give an estimate of how much each job created under the scheme has cost since the start of the scheme?
§ Mr. CopeWe estimate that the net cost per person is about £450 per job, which compares extremely favourably with the other schemes that the Department operates.
§ Mr. RoweDoes my right hon. Friend accept that that remarkable achievement is welcome to us all? Will he confirm that a substantial number of now large employers started under the loan guarantee scheme and that a great many of the firms that started under that scheme are still in business after three years?
§ Mr. CopeYes, the majority of firms which started under the loan guarantee scheme continue and are successful, although obviously not all of them. They include some of the great high street firms such as Sock Shop and Waterstone's the bookshop, which are constantly mentioned.