§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the period of enterprise allowance in(a) January 1991 and (b) at present; how much has been spent each month this year for publicising the enterprise allowance scheme for starting up new businesses; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ForthIn January 1991, the enterprise allowance scheme provided up to 52 weeks on an allowance for all 189W those accepted on to the scheme. Since April 1991, entrants may stay on the scheme for between 26 weeks and 66 weeks, the actual period being determined by the local training and enterprise council according to local priorities. Where no training and enterprise council is yet in operation, the period of provision remains up to 52 weeks.
National expenditure on publicity is shown in the table. This relates to the provision of the leaflets and support materials and does not include any local publicity which may have been undertaken by training and enterprise councils. Demand for the scheme remains strong with around 1,000 new entrants a week at present.
Enterprise allowance scheme: expenditure on publicity in 1991 £ January 17,947 February 1,230 March 27,007 April nil May 2,053 June 1,524 July 2,290