HC Deb 30 March 2004 vol 419 c1361W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the performance of Business Link. [163322]

Nigel Griffiths

The performance of BL continues to grow strongly. More customers are using BL services then ever before —330,000 businesses last year and at the same time, they are becoming increasingly satisfied—with the quality of the services they are receiving.

The latest performance results (up to the end of Quarter 3 of 2003–04) show that market penetration has already reached the full year target of 27 per cent—with more than double the number of businesses helped this year compared to the same point two years ago and customer satisfaction is still rising and now stands at 87 per cent.