§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list those measures introduced within his Department within the past year and intended to be of benefit to small businesses.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsThe Department has continued to encourage small businesses in Wales against the background of the very wide range of measures introduced by this Department including, for example, those about deregulation described in the White Paper "Building Businesses … Not Barriers", Cmnd. 9794, on 22 May 1986.
Counselling and Advisory Services
The Welsh Development Agency administers the counselling service in Wales and the agency, Mid Wales Development and the Wales Tourist Board continue to provide a range of advisory services for the benefit of small firms. On 1 January 1986 the Small Firms Centre, previously administered by the Department, was transferred to the Welsh Development Agency and we believe this merging of the counselling service and centre will provide a more effective service to its clients.
Local Enterprise Agencies
We continue to support local enterprise agencies in Wales and have approved the registration of two new agencies during the past 12 months and are considering applications from a further three. We are also giving urgent consideration as to how best the future funding of local enterprise agencies in Wales might be arranged and expect to make an announcement shortly.
Rural Enterprise Initiative
Many of the elements of the rural enterprise initiative which we announced on 24 March will be of particular benefit to small firms. They include, for example, streamlined administrative and more flexible security arrangements for loans to new and small firms.