§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the support programmes for small businesses that(a) his Department and (b) its agencies have financed in each of the last five years; how much money was allocated for each scheme in each year; how much money has gone unclaimed under each scheme; and how many small businesses have benefited from each scheme. [161254]
§ Mr. Charles Clarke[holding answer 15 March 2004]: The Cross-cutting review of Government services for small business was published in December 2002, and outlines the services provided to small businesses from across Government. My Department and its agencies provides indirect support to small business through measures aimed at workforce development. Some support, but are not restricted to, small businesses, others are specifically for small businesses. The principle programmes through which my Department has supported small business over the last five years are:
The Small Firms Training Loans
(SFTL) programme was introduced in Great Britain in 1994 and closed on 1 February 2003. Firms could borrow between £500 and £125,000 for vocational training, with a repayment holiday of between six and 12 months. The Department paid the interest on the loan during this period and provided a loan default guarantee. The loan repayment term was for up to seven years. Over the life of the scheme 211 loans totalling £1,344,000 were made by Banks, at a programme cost of £533,000.
480WKey Worker Initiative
For businesses employing 10 to 49 people was launched in 1998 and finished in 2000. Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) delivered this programme.
Employer Learning Networks
A £2.5 million ELN challenge fund was set up in 2000–01 to encourage collaborative action by employers in England. The fund supported 18 projects, which covered some of the smaller firms (with less than 50 employees) across a range of sectors.
Investors in People (IiP)
The National HP programme 1997 included targets for coverage of the workforce and small firms (employing 10 to 49 people) to be achieved by 2002. TECs delivered this initially, it was taken over by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) when it succeeded the TECs in April 2001.
Investors in People Small Firms Initiative
(SFI) was launched on 27 February 2003, as a partnership between the LSC, IiP UK and the SBS. SFI aims to boost the performance, capability and competitiveness of small firms by encouraging them to achieve recognition against the HP standard. The initiative offers business support up to the value of £1,250 to individual small companies on a first come first served basis. The initiative has a budget of £30 million; we will know final take up in March 2005.
Employer Training Pilots (ETPs)
ETPs are currently operating in 12 Learning and Skills Council (LSC) areas. six began in September 2002 with a budget of £40 million. A further six commenced in September 2003 and the existing six were extended for a further year using an additional £130 million. Of the 7,000 employers that had signed up for ETPs at the end of January 2004 71 per cent. (4,970) had less than 50 employees. In December 2003 the Chancellor announced an extra £120 million to extend the existing 12 by a further year and to create a further six pilots.
Leadership and Management
In collaboration with DTI, IIP, Ufi, LSC and others we are trialling a new flexible Leadership and Management development programme for owner-managers and CEOs of SMEs (20–250 staff). The overall budget is £43.7 million over the period 2003–04 to 2005–06. Six Pathfinder areas are setting up in February and March and employers are expected to participate from April 2004.