§ Mrs. BrowningTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what departmental scrutiny has been applied to the Department for Trade and Industry grant awarded to TransTec for new premises at Coleshill, Birmingham, in 1988 since it was awarded. [106345]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 24 January 2000]: The Department operates established procedures to verify that businesses comply with the conditions attached to payments of grant. These include visits to premises and project reports with independent certification. There is provision for grant to be reclaimed if the conditions are not met. Following newspaper allegations, the Department is inviting Mr. Ayriss and Mr. Dickinson in for interview concerning the circumstances surrounding grants to the Trans Tec group of companies.
§ Mrs. BrowningTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when his Department first received reports of the financial difficulties of TransTec. [106347]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 24 January 2000]: Following the announcement of the suspension of shares on 24 December 1999.
§ Mrs. BrowningTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the Government grants received by TransTec, since 1987. [106346]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 24 January 2000]: The Department's Selective Assistance database has no records of any grants or loans having been made to TransTec plc.
In order to give as full a reply as possible I asked officials to identify grants paid to subsidiary companies which, according to TransTec plc's Annual Report for 1998 principally affected the results of the Group and its assets in that year. The Department has not been able to establish whether these companies were subsidiaries of TransTec plc at the time offers and payments of grants were made.
The Department has no record in the database of any loans having been made to these companies.
207W
Companies from TransTec plc Annual Report who have had grant payments since 1 January 1987 Company Scheme Amount paid (£) Date paid Transfer Technology Ltd. LINK1 50,624 1994 to 1995 LINK1 121,939 1990 to 1992 GICP2 164,554 1988 to 1989 CA3 4,354 1989 GICP2 153,796 1987 to 1988 S74 90,000 1987 to 1989 Elliott Plastic Components Ltd. (formerly Caradon Elliott Ltd.) S74 200,000 1989 to 1991 A. L. Dunn & Co. Ltd. SFMP5 29,799 1987 B. S. K. Aluminium Ltd. S74 60,000 1993 to 1995 S74 175,000 1997 Plasmar Ltd. CA3 3,795 1991 CA3 3,723 1990 S74 75,000 1988 to 1990 Amchem Co. Ltd. CA3 1,164 1990 SFI6 29,275 1987 to 1988 Marwin Production Systems Ltd. CA3 4,025 1990 Sarclad International Ltd. SPUR7 111,226 1993 to 1995 SFI6 24,650 1987 1 LINK: Collaborative research 2 GICP: General Industrial Collaborative Projects 3 CA: Consultancy Initiative 4 S7: Regional Selective Assistance (Section 7) 5 SFMP: Support For Major Projects (S8) 6 SFI: Support for Innovation 7 SPUR: Support for Projects Under Research In light of recent allegations I have asked officials to verify that for each of the grants listed in the table the conditions attached to the payment of grant have been complied with.
§ Mrs. BrowningTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the meetings and events that Ministers and officials of his Department attended at which directors and personnel of TransTec were present in(a) 1995, (b) 1996, (c) 1997, (d) 1998 and (e) 1999. [106351]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 24 January 2000]: No central record is maintained which could provide the information in the form requested.