§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many applications for grants were made under the business recovery fund; and how many have been allocated, for each Regional Development Agency in the last three years; [7800]
(2) how much money has been made available to provide grants under the business recovery fund; and what the total value of grants made has been allocated so far under the business recovery fund, for each Regional Development Agency. [7801]
§ Alun MichaelI have been asked to reply.
142WThe business recovery fund has been in existence only since May this year as part of our response to the impact of foot and mouth disease on the rural economy. Discretion was given to each Regional Development Agency to use available funds flexibly and quickly to meet the specific needs of their own region. As a consequence information on numbers of applications is not available on any consistent basis. Information on the value of grants is given in the table.
RDA allocations—direct grants to business1 All cash figures in £ million Allocation Approved for payment Number of applications approved Applications awaiting approval NWDA 6.6 6.0 1,906 90 SWDA 9.2 8.4 775 0 Yfwd 2.0 2.0 585 0 AWM 4.0 3.3 335 150 ONE 2.3 1.8 570 100 EEDA 0.5 1.6 23 110 SEEDA 1.0 0.6 93 88 EMDA 1.4 1.3 95 385 Total 26.9 20.54 4,382 923 1 17 October 2001