§ Mr. GrahamTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will give the date of incorporation and the operational commencement date for the local enterprise company for Argyll, Arran and the Cumbraes;
(2) if he will list (a) the dates of incorporation and (b) the operational commencement dates of each local enterprise company operating in the area formerly covered by the Scottish Development Agency in 1991–92.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe local enterprise company for Argyll, Bute, Arran and the Cumbraes was incorporated on 6 August 1990; the remainder of the information requested about incorporation dates is set out in the table.
Local enterprise company Date of incorporation Borders 30 July 1990 Central 25 May 1990 Grampian 16 May 1989 Lanarkshire 27 April 1990 Lothian 30 April 1990 Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey1 1 March 1990 Tayside 22 August 1990 1 Straddles the Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise boundaries. Operational commencement is not readily linked to a single date. Local enterprise companies' operations have commenced in all cases, with the business planning process, and they are increasingly involved in operational decisions both about individual projects and about matters such as the agreement of new contracts with training providers. The next stage will be for detailed operational contracts to be awarded to companies by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In general, these contracts will be awarded over the next few weeks and will result in local enterprise companies becoming fully operational on 1 April, the same date as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise take over full operational responsibility from their predecessor bodies.