§ Mr. David Nicholsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what periodic review is made by the Government of the effectiveness of enterprise zones; what response the Government have made to recent business or academic studies of this subject; what effect enterprise zones have had on business in the periphery of the zones but outside their boundaries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierThe progress of the enterprise zones experiment has been monitored since it began. In 1986, halfway through the 10-year period of designation of the earliest zones, we commissioned an evaluation study of the experiment and have recently received our consultants' report. We are considering future policy in the light of that report.