HC Deb 15 January 2003 vol 397 c645W
Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what(a) rules, (b) guidance and (c) advice she has published on declarations of interest and withdrawal from meetings in respect of the members of boards of Business Links. [90150]

Nigel Griffiths

Clauses 7.1 to 7.3 of the Business Link Operator Appointment outlines the responsibilities of Business Link Operators under Corporate Governance and Management. I am sending a copy of these to my hon. Friend and place a copy in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Prisk

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses had been received from businesses as a result of the Business Link advertisement campaign before 31 December 2002. [90568]

Nigel Griffiths

The main objective of the current Business Link advertising campaign, which was launched in September 2002, is to raise awareness of the business advice service and improve understanding of the variety of professional help available through Business Link.

The campaign generated an increase of 61 per cent. in weekly calls to our national 0845 telephone number and a 63 per cent. increase in web sessions to businesslink.orgsite.

Mr. Prisk

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimate is of the costs of the Business Link advertisement campaign by(a) news and print papers, (b) radio and (c) television in the calendar year 2003. [90569]

Nigel Griffiths

Costs committed to date for the continuation of the current Business Link advertising campaign are detailed as follows

£
(a) News and print papers 491,533
(b) Radio 490,702
(c) TV 912,078
Total 1,894,313

The current campaign runs until March 2003. Plans for advertising from April have yet to be agreed.