HC Deb 19 April 1988 vol 131 cc411-2W
Mr. Rathbone

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many applications for assistance under the DTI enterprise scheme have been received during its first three months of operation; and how many have been granted for each of the consultancy functions being offered.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

In the period from 13 January, when the consultancy initiatives were launched, and 14 April, 3,929 applications for assisted consultancy were received.

Referral of applications to the relevant scheme contractor (who matches consultant to applicant) takes place on the basis of a short initial Business Review carried out by a DTI enterprise counsellor.

By 14 April, 1,422 applications had been referred, as follows:

Referrals
(a) Schemes available from 13 January 1988:
Marketing Initiative 638
Design Initiative 243
Quality Initiative 307
Manufacturing Initiative 150
(b) Additional schemes available from 1 April 1988:
Business Planning Initiative 55
Financial and Information Systems Initiative 29