HC Deb 13 January 2004 vol 416 cc693-4W
Brian Cotter

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money has been spent by her Department in establishing the Benchmark Index for business. [145512]

Nigel Griffiths

£4 million was spent before this financial year, with a further £0.5 million allocated up to 31 March 2004.

The DTI Small Business Service's Benchmark Index service enables companies to assess where they stand against their competitors in about 80 different aspects of performance. Around 9,000 benchmarks have been carried out.

Brian Cotter

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding has been provided by her Department to fund the Connect website for small businesses. [145516]

Nigel Griffiths

The CONNECT website has been funded to a total of £125,000.