§ Mr. GallieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if businesses and organisations with declared political objectives can, or could obtain, financial support in the form of grants, loans and other assistance from(a) local enterprise companies, (b) Highland and Islands Enterprise, (c) Scottish Enterprise and (d) any of their predecessor bodies. [20416]
§ Mr. George KynochIt is very unlikely that a business or organisation whose declared objectives were exclusively or largely political would qualify for financial support from any of these bodies. Applications for 559W assistance for projects are normally considered against a number of criteria including commercial viability, number of jobs created or safeguarded and conformity to the objectives of the scheme in question.