§ 51. Mr. Haywardasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications for assistance under the design funded consultancy scheme have been approved since its inception.
§ Mr. ButcherThe design advisory service funded consultancy scheme — DASFCS — was started in July 1982, and by 31 October 1983 1,213 applications for assistance had been approved. The scheme is operating at its full capacity of 125 approved applications per month.
Roughly half of the consultancies have been concerned with "industrial" design, the term used by non-engineering designers to describe styling and general appearance design of engineering products. The other half dealt with the functional design of a wide range of products.
Many of the companies assisted have forecast that substantial increases in turnover and profit are expected to result from the assistance received.