§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many companies have been assisted by Business Link. [541]
§ Mr. PageThe number of different businesses using Business Link nearly doubled between July 1995 and June 1996 from 56,513 different businesses using Business Link at least once in the first quarter from July to September 1995 to 107,159 doing so in the quarter from 589W April to June 1996. This means that over 8,200 different businesses are now using Business Link each week. The figures for the final quarter are based on returns from 79 Business Link partnerships out of the 81 that were operational in this period.