§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what extra resources have been allocated to 563W business links to ensure that they are able to maintain support currently provided by the Rural Development Commission to their small business clients in rural development areas. [13887]
§ Mr. Page[holding answer 31 January 1997]: None. Business links already provide support to all small and medium-sized enterprises in their areas—rural or urban. In addition, an element of the local competitiveness challenge has been earmarked for bids from rural development areas. Projects with a rural dimension have featured strongly at the outline bid stage of the challenge.