§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received about obstacles to the greater take-up of loans under the loan guarantee scheme.
§ Mr. McLoughlinA number of representations and complaints are received about the unavailability of loans under the small firms loan guarantee scheme. The majority of these concern businesses whose proposals have been rejected by lenders on commercial grounds. With both
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§ Mr. GrocottTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many copies of "Competitiveness: Helping Business to Win" have been printed; and what was the total cost of production and distribution.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe White Paper on competitiveness was published by HMSO. A total of 10,500 copies were produced. The production costs are a matter for HMSO, and in accordance with normal practice were reflected in the price of the White Paper. In addition, the DTI met preliminary design, writing and typesetting costs of approximately £30,000.
The table sets out provisional costs, excluding staff time, incurred by a range of Departments in purchasing the White Paper for external distribution, and in producing summary versions and extracts. It also sets out the costs of external distribution of the White Paper, the summary versions and extracts.
public and lenders' funds at risk, scheme applications must be assessed carefully by lenders for their commercial viability.
§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the take-up of loans under the loan guarantee scheme over the past three years.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe number of loans guaranteed under the small firms loan guarantee scheme in each of the past three financial years was 1991–92, 2,933; 1992–93, 2,342; and 1993–94, 3,886. Take-up of the scheme increased considerably following the enhancements introduced on 1 July 1993 and current average monthly take-up is now higher than at any time since 1984.