§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress in encouraging investment in e-commerce businesses in(a) Shropshire and (b) the West Midlands region in the last three years. [116047]
§ Mr. CabornElectronic Commerce lies at the heart of the Government's vision for building a modern, knowledge driven economy in the UK. Its importance to an area like Shropshire is recognised.
In September 1999, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister launched the PIU report "e-commerce@its.best.uk" which set out the vision and strategy for e-commerce. This built on target to make the 717W UK the best place in the world to trade electronically by 2002, set out in the Competitiveness White Paper "Our Competitive Future: Building the Knowledge-Driven Economy".
By 2002, this means 1.5 million SMEs connected and one million actually trading on-line, with a higher proportion of e-commerce to transactions and a higher proportion of Government services transacted through e-commerce than in the rest of G7.
In the West Midlands there are also a wide range of European Funded e-commerce related projects supporting the development of e-commerce businesses, benefiting Shropshire and elsewhere. In 1997 Business Link Shropshire was granted £100,000 to establish an Information Society Initiative Local Support Centre. This funding, spread over three years, has enabled the BL to advise and support local businesses in the introduction and use of ICT. This project has linked well with services available from the Business Link's Information Technology Adviser, who has been able to give expert advice to local companies on how to make the best use of IT and explain the benefits of e-commerce. In the last three years over 800 companies have received advice/support.