HC Deb 15 July 1992 vol 211 cc757-8W
Mr. David Shaw

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the achievements of his Department and his policies in helping small businesses over the last 12 months relative to the previous 12 months; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.

Mr. David Hunt

The Government continue to place a high priority on helping small businesses, through improvements to the business climate, through deregulation and through specific programmes of support and assistance.

Measures operated by my Department to assist small businesses include the following:

Support fur Local Enterprise Agencies

There are currently 21 local enterprise agencies in Wales and there is a likelihood of a number of new organisations approaching me for approval in the near future. In order to strengthen the network of agencies to improve and enhance services to small businesses mergers between agencies are encouraged where appropriate. One merger involving two agencies has occurred since last year. The WDA and the DBRW provided £318,000 in direct grant support to enterprise agencies for core services in 1991–92.

Training and Enterprise Councils

The training and enterprise councils (TECs) in Wales are responsible for running a range of measures which assist small businesses. They are continuing to develop provision to help new and existing businesses to acquire and build skills which will enable them to compete and grow. During the last financial year Welsh TECs assisted over 8,000 owner-managers and helped more than 3,300 people to start their own new businesses.

Regional Selective Assistance, Regional Enterprise Grant

Small businesses continue to take advantage of the help available under regional selective assistance. In the year to end of June 1992. 139 small firms (employing up to 200 people) accepted offers of RSA. The value of these offers in 1992 amount to £19.2 million. A further 151 small firms (employing less than 25 people) accepted oilers of Regional Enterprise Grant totalling £1.70 million.

Enterprise Wales

Launched in January 1988, the consultancy initiatives have proved extremely popular in Wales. More than 5,175 companies have applied. In 1991–92 alone 1,040 applicants were received, 6 per cent. above the economic weight. and 1,031 business reviews were commissioned, 19 per cent. above the economic weight.

Small firms Meth award for research and technology (SMART)

The number of small Welsh companies which received a SMART stage I award during the past 12 months was 16 and 11 companies received the SMART stage 2 awards. The maximum value of each stage 1 award has been increased from £37,500 to £45,000 and each stage 2 award from £50,000 to £60,000. On a per-capita basis, Wales has continued to do better than most other regions in this annual competition, receiving about 9 per cent. of the total awards nationwide.

Support for products under research

This scheme, which was introduced in 1991, is intended to support highly innovative projects by companies employing up to 500 persons. During the first year of its operation, offers of financial assistance were made to 10 Welsh companies. to a total value of £750,000.