§ Baroness Hooperasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made on the development of the One Stop Shops for business support.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)The six areas that will have the first pilot One Stop Shops are Birmingham, Halton (North Cheshire), Hertfordshire, Manchester, South and East Cheshire and Tyneside.
Together these areas provide a range of different models of the One Stop Shop concept. Some offer single centres to serve a particular business community like Birmingham, and others offer hub and spoke networks to cover a larger geographical area like Hertfordshire. In total there will be 23 One Stop Shops in these six areas. My department has committed £5.57 million to funding these first pilots over three years.
There are several other areas whose plans have nearly reached the required standard but need some further development. My department is in discussion with those areas and I look forward to receiving revised plans from them. I hope that this will lead to pilot One Stop Shops being established in up to another nine areas in the course of this financial year.
My department will also be providing support for the development of proposals for a London-wide approach to the establishment of One Stop Shops in the capital. A partnership of key organisations in the provision of business support services has already come together to produce initial ideas for a London-wide approach and the development funding will enable detailed proposals to be worked up for a comprehensive network of services with local outlets across London.
We are grateful to the One Stop Shop National Assessment Panel for their help in assessing the shortlisted bids. The standard of bids was high. I hope that all areas will continue to build on the partnerships which have been established.
With this announcement of the first pilot One Stop Shops, the plan to revolutionise the delivery of support services for business in England has taken an important step forward. I am confident that those areas selected will deliver a quality of service that will match or better that available to our industrial competitors in Europe and beyond. I am keen to see these first pilots operational as soon as possible and my department will work closely with them to ensure they are a success.