§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to designate new enterprise zones; and if he will make a statement. [116173]
§ John HealeySince the introduction of the Enterprise Zone scheme, a wide range of alternative schemes has been developed to promote regeneration and growth. These provide for better targeting of resources and can be implemented more rapidly than the Enterprise Zone scheme which, in part as a result of EC state aid requirements, can take up to three years to designate. The Government believe that the best way forward is not to use subsidy based approaches that will displace businesses from elsewhere, but to target attention at the issues which constrain economic development and enterprise within our most disadvantaged communities.
The Government are currently undertaking research to draw lessons from the Enterprise Zone programme, which will help pinpoint the elements of the programme that produced most benefit and will help inform future policy development.
The Government have introduced a number of policies to support enterprise in disadvantaged areas. The 2002 pre-Budget report designated 2,000 Enterprise Areas, covering the most deprived areas in the UK, in which measures to boost enterprise, such as the exemption from stamp duty for non-residential property transactions and the community investment tax relief, are being concentrated. Budget 2003 announced additional steps to support enterprise in these areas, including the accreditation of the first 11 community development finance institutions to offer community investment tax relief to investors.
The Inland Revenue website contains a postcode search tool for the Enterprise Areas at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/so/pcode_search.htm.