§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what has been the cost of the enterprise allowance initiative in each of the years since its introduction. [6978]
§ Mr. PaiceThe enterprise allowance scheme was introduced in 1982. Its successor, from 1991, was the business start-up programme.
The information requested is given in the following table:
Year Cost £million 1982–83 2.4 1983–84 23.2 1984–85 80.1 1985–86 108.4 1986–87 149.7 1987–88 200.7 1988–89 196.7 1989–90 170.9 1990–91 133.1 1991–92 161.8 1992–93 149.2 1993–94 123.3
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people have benefited, and how many businesses have been generated by the enterprise allowance since its inception. [6979]
§ Mr. PaiceA total of 565,700 people joined the enterprise allowance scheme between 1982–83 and 1990–91 and 162,800 joined its successor, business start-up, between 1991–92 and 1994–95. In 1994–95 the budget for the programme was absorbed by the single regeneration budget.
The number of businesses generated is lower than the number of people in the programme because not all grants were made to sole proprietors.