§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if a financial interest was declared by Mr. Z when he was a director of company Y, the identities having been supplied to him, at a time when this company received financial assistance from his Department; which form this declaration took; if the declaration was voluntary; if Mr. Z absented himself from the relevant meetings; what procedures were followed by his officials in vetting the application(s); and if he will make a statement. [30038]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 20 May 1996]: Members of the South West industrial development board are required as a matter of routine to declare directorships and other financial interests, and Mr. Z complied with this principle in respect of his directorship of company Y. He absented himself from the discussion by the board of the one regional selective assistance case involving the company arising during his period as a member, and officials additionally ensured that he did not see papers relating to that case. The application was appraised by the Department's south-west regional office following the usual procedures for cases of that size.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list those individuals and consultancies that have advised his Department's south-west regional office on applications from companies for financial assistance since 1980. [28752]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 13 May 1996]: In addition to those listed in my answer of 4 June 1996, Official Report, column 308, the following external advisers have assisted the Department's south-west regional office—now the Government office for the south-west—on applications from companies for financial assistance since 1980:
- Mr. J. A. Strzelecki, Accounting and Marketing Services Ltd.
- Mr. K. E. Holmes, Dellcourts Ltd.
- Mr. J. Thornhill
- Mr. Andrew Holton
Others may also have provided advice on an occasional basis in the earlier part of the period, but we have been unable to confirm this from surviving records.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the applications to his Department's south-west regional office for regional selective assistance that are prepared by company W, whose identity has been supplied to him, by(a) number and (b) percentage; what measures he has taken to ensure that such services are fairly distributed among other accountancy firms; and if he will make a statement. [30027]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 20 May 1996]: It is for applicants to decide whether to retain advisers and, if so, which. The identity of advisers is not necessarily evident from the face of the application and the total number and percentage of applications prepared with the help of company W could therefore be researched only at disproportionate cost.
452W
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what financial assistance has been given by his Department since 1980 to (i) company A, (ii) company B, (iii) company C, (iv) company D, (v) company E, (vi) company F and (vii) company G, whose identities have been supplied to him by(a) type of grant and (b) date, including month. [27737]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 2 May 1996]: Four of the companies have received assistance under the Department's principal regional, enterprise and technology schemes:
Company Scheme Payment £ Date A Consultancy initiative 4,835 November 1992 D Consultancy initiative 4,681 July 1991 E Regional Selective Assistance 9,040 April 1980 First project (offered in 1977) 9,040 April 1981 Second project 40,000 August 1988 40,000 May 1990 Third project 300,000 December 1989 150,000 January 1991 Fourth project 250,000 March 1993 70,000 January 1996 F Regional Selective Assistance 60,000 October 1986 First project 30,000 February 1988 Second project 30,000 November 1995
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what financial assistance has been given by his Department since 1980 to (i) company H, (ii) company I, (iii) company J, (iv) company K, (v) company L, (vi) company M and (vii) company N, whose identities have been supplied to him by (a) type of grant and (b) date, including month. [27738]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 2 May 1996]: Three of the companies have received assistance under the Department's principal regional, enterprise and technology schemes:
453W
Company Scheme Payment £ Date J Consultancy initiative 2,562 November 1990 L Regional selective assistance First project 120,000 July 1984 119,000 August 1985 119,000 November 1986 Second project 125,000 September 1986 125,000 February 1989 Microprocessor application project 100,091 March 1985 N EUREKA First project 204,617 11 payments from May 1991 to July 1993 Second project 61,299 2 payments, March and September 1992
Company Scheme Payment £ Date Third project Awareness/demonstrators programme 7,500 November 1995 First project 3,500 October 1991 Second project 10,000 March 1990 Third project Advanced technology programme 14,927 March 1992 First project 181,229 6 payments from February 1993 to August 1994 Second project 50,000 4 payments from March to October 1995
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what financial assistance has been given by his Department since 1980 to (i) company O, (ii) company P, (iii) company Q, (iv) company R, (v) company S, (vi) company T and (vii) company U, whose identities have been supplied to him by(a) a type of grant and (b) date, including month. [27739]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 2 May 1996]: Two of the companies have received assistance under the Department's principal regional, enterprise and technology schemes:
Company Scheme Payment £ Date O Consultancy initiative 2,513 July 1989 U Support for innovation—first project 68,314 4 payments from January to October 1983 Second project 58,431 4 payments from Marcg to December 1984
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 29 April,Official Report, columns 363–64, what was the value of the offer to Porthcurno Management Company Ltd.; on what date (a) the application and (b) the offer were made; and what was the nature of the financial assistance offered. [28302]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 7 May 1996]: The offer to Porthcurno Management Company Ltd. was for £500,000 regional selective assistance grant and was made in December 1993, the application having been made two months earlier.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 29 April,Official Report, column 365, on what date regional selective assistance was granted for each of the three mentioned projects undertaken by Marine Projects (Plymouth) Ltd.; and what part of this financial assistance was made under the terms of the previous offers. [28303]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 7 May 1996]: In clarification of my earlier answer, the dates of offer and first payment of grant in respect of each of the three projects are as follows:
454W
Offer First payment First project December 1983 January 1984 Second project October 1986 July 1988 Third project March 1989 January 1991 These grants were unrelated to the earlier offers of regional selective assistance made to the company.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what role was played by Mr. Kenneth Holmes in the granting of DTI financial assistance to Marine Projects (Plymouth) Ltd. since 1980. [28267]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 7 May 1996]: None.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 29 April,Official Report, column 363, if he will state (i) the advice offered by Mr.Kenneth Holmes on application for DTI financial assistance by Rodelco China Ltd. (ii) the outcome of this application, (iii) the value of the offer made to the company, (iv) if the subsequent offers made to Character Ceramics Ltd. were made in conjunction with the original offer to Rodelco China Ltd. and (v) what was the value of the offers made in 1992 and 1993 to the business when trading as Character Ceramics Ltd. [28298]
§ Mr. Oppenheim[holding answer 7 May 1996]: Mr. Kenneth Holmes identified various shortcomings in the initial application by Rodelco China which led the Department's south-west regional office to reject the application in June 1992. A second subsequent application was made by Rodelco China in July 1992, which resulted in an offer of £88,000 regional selective assistance in November 1992 to the business, by the then incorporated as Character Ceramics Ltd. A third application resulted in a further offer of £20,000 in March 1993.