§ Sir Sydney ChapmanTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement about the progress and effectiveness of business links, with particular reference to the involvement of the private sector. [10647]
§ Mrs. RocheBusiness links are run by private sector led partnerships of training and enterprise councils, chambers of commerce, enterprise agencies, local authorities, and other providers of business support. Business link boards are business-led; this ensures that business has a strong voice in the development of services focused on the needs of small and medium enterprise customers.
The network was completed earlier this year with each of the 89 business link partnerships in England now having at least one outlet—giving 100 per cent. business link coverage to the SME sector.
Over the last quarter:
more than 10,000 different businesses used business links each weekmore than 112,800 different businesses used the business link information and advice services;more than 21,200 businesses were advised by personal business advisersmore than 28,800 businesses received counselling.The quarterly report on business link and business link regional supply network management information—URN 96123—is regularly published and a copy is available in the Library.