§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Business Link organisations are in operation; and how much money was spent by each of them in each year since their formation. [148197]
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§ Nigel GriffithsThere are 42 Business Link Operators (BLOs) delivering local business support services in 45 sub-regions in England, with three BLOs operating in two areas.
The following table shows the total expenditure on BL branded activity by sub region including that supported by non-DTI funding, for the last two financial years. The Business Link network was re-engineered and the new BLOs operational from 26 March 2001.
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BLO expenditure 2001–02 and 2002–03 £ Expenditure BLO sub-region 2001–02 2002–03 North East County Durham 2,652,539 3,441,153 Northumberland 2,300,765 2,878,904 Tees Valley 4,141,342 5,088,231 Tyne and Wear 5,736,800 9,064,600 North West Cumbria 22,221,795 3,859,512 North and Western Lancashire 4,192,499 5,917,278 East Lancashire 2,715,866 4,362,073 Cheshire and Warrington 4,978,535 4,551,754 Chamber Business Enterprises (Manchester) 8,492,135 9,777,677 North Manchester 6,891,700 7,471,532 Mersey side 5,736,436 7,629,197 Yorkshire and Humberside West Yorkshire 5,637,164 11,184,242 South Yorkshire 8,910,014 17,458,068 North Yorkshire 3,085,540 4,661,500 Humberside 2,575,720 5,738,901 East Midlands Derbyshire 4,782,666 4,697,023 Leicestershire—Holistico 4,188,328 4,875,594 Lincolnshire and Rutland 5,313,827 4,844,585 Northamptonshire 2,296,407 3,043,415 Nottinghamshire 5,042,214 4,005,441 West Midlands Birmingham 21,286,000 15,048,000 Black Country 6,183,900 6,854,500 Coventry and Warwickshire 7.271,320 6,115,000 Herefordshire and Worcestershire 6,787,260 8,530,417 Staffordshire 5,031,346 5,744,896 Shropshire 7,403,534 5,564,642 Eastern Bedford and Luton 2,762,644 2,899,920 Cambridgeshire 2,874,000 3,315,500 Essex 6,515,145 7,185,428 Hertfordshire 7,462,930 8,191,000 Norfolk 3,182,360 4,441,582 Suffolk 3,638,867 4,149,373 London London 36,966,000 38,236,000 South East Berkshire 4,546,742 3,970,419 Milton Keynes, Oxford, Buckinghamshire 5,739,010 5,741,967 Sussex 7,706,000 6,986,000 Hampshire 6,332,070 6,974,849 Kent 9,763,000 9,532,683 Surrey 5,727,780 6,207,269
BLO expenditure 2001–02 and 2002–03 £ Expenditure BLO sub-region 2001–02 2002–03 South West Devon and Cornwall 21,168,965 11,280,448 Dorset 3,344,765 3,250,151 West 4,894,858 5,696,502 Gloucestershire 4,708,576 4,001,183 Somerset 3,382,154 3,151,337 Wiltshire 3,720,061 3,472,052 Based upon quarterly financial returns provided by BLOs to the Small Business Service, DTI.