§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will assess the effectiveness of the measures introduced since 1979 to help small businesses; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThere is a number of difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of many of the measures we have taken, such as taxation measures and changes in legislation. Individual schemes of assistance are carefully monitored, and steps have been taken to improve their effectiveness where this is shown to be necessary. For example, the business expansion scheme has been greatly extended since its beginning as the business start-up scheme; this Department's small firms service has been expanded in the light of independent research evidence of its cost effectiveness; there have been two full reviews of the loan guarantee scheme leading to a number of improvements. We have also recently commissioned a study amongst small and medium sized firms of the Department's advisory services with a view to assessing their cost effectiveness in meeting the needs of these firms.