Business Links (Hansard, 10 May 1995)

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the President of the Board of Trade, how many staff are employed in business link(a) at his Department in London and (b) in business link centres around the United Kingdom. [22294]
514W

§ Mr. Page
Forty-eight staff in my Department in London are employed directly in business link development. In addition a large number are involved indirectly in respect of the activities of business link partner organisations and the integration of DTI funded services into business links.
My Department does not keep information on the numbers of staff employed by business links or those employed by, or located by partner organisations and co-located within business links.

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many inquiries for information were received by(a) business link and (b) the marketing information centre in the past 12 months. [22292]

§ Mr. Page
Information is not held centrally on the figures relating individual enquiries made to business link. However, my Department collects figures on the numbers of firms assisted in each quarter. Companies are recorded only once even though several enquiries may be made in the monitoring period.
During April and December 1994—the latest period for which figures are available—51,710 companies were assisted on at least one occasion.
In the 12 months April 1994 to March 1995 the Export Market Information Centre received 20,233 visitors, approximately 37,000 telephone calls and 1,343 written inquiries.

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the cost, in the last year for which figures are available, of(a) business link and (b) the marketing information centre. [22295]

§ Mr. Page
In the financial year 1994–95 DTI contributed £13.1 million to the establishment of business link. This was in addition to contributions from partner organisations.
In the financial year 1994–95 the net cost of the export market information centre was £1.7 million.

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a list of the business link centres in the United Kingdom. [22291]

§ Mr. Page
One hundred business link outlets are open in England:

1. Alnwick

2. Aykley Heads

3. Aylesbury

4. Barnsley

5. Barrow in Furness

6. Batley

7. Berwick upon Tweed

8. Birkenhead

9. Birmingham

10. Blyth

11. Bootle

12. Boston

13. Brighouse

14. Brunswick Dock

15. Carlisle

16. Central Devon

17. Chester

18. Chester le street

19. Coalville

20. Congleton

21. Coventry
515
22. Crewe

23. Derby

24. Derby Inner City

25. Derwentside

26. Doncaster

27. Dorset

28. Dudley

29. Durham City

30. Easington

31. East Manchester

32. Gainsborough

33. Gateshead

34. Gloucestershire

35. Grantham

36. Great Sutton

37. Halifax

38. Hereford

39. Hexham

40. Hinckley

41. Hoole Bridge

42. Huddersfield

43. Isle of Wight

44. Kendal

45. Knowsley

46. Leamington Spa

47. Leicester

48. Leominster

49. Lincoln

50. Liverpool

51. Loughborough

52. Louth

53. Macclesfield

54. Middlesborough

55. Malvern

56. Manchester (central)

57. Market Harborough

58. Melton Mowbray

59. Mount Pleasant

60. Newcastle upon Tyne

61. North Dorset

62. North Hertfordshire

63. North Tyneside

64. Nuneaton

65. Oakham

66. Oldbury

67. Oswestry

68. Pershore

69. Reading

70. Ross on Wye

71. Rotherham

72. St. Albans

73. Salford

74. Sedgefield

75. Skegness

76. Sleaford

77. Slough

78. Southport

79. South Tyneside

80. South Devon

81. Spalding

82. Stratford upon Avon

83. Sunderland

84. Swadlincote
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85. Tameside

86. Teesdale

87. Telford

88. Trafford Park

89. Tyneside

90. Walsall

91. Wansbeck

92. Wearvalley (2 outlets)

94. West Cornwall

95. Weymouth

96. Whitehaven

97. Widnes

98. Wigan

99. Worcester

100. Workington

Separate arrangements are in place for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.