To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate his Department has made of the cost of running the Supply2.gov.uk website in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08; and what he estimates this cost to be in 2008-09. (246769)

[holding answer 12 January 2009]: The supply2.gov.uk site is operated under a concession type contract with the supplier carrying the commercial risk. The initial set up cost borne by the Department of Trade and Industry in 2006 was £120,000. In 2008-09 BERR funded the provision of a free trial for businesses which ran between 1 May and 31 July 2008, at a cost of £110,310 (ex VAT). No other payments have been made in relation to the portal.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many businesses were registered with Supply2.gov.uk in each month since June 2006; and how many he expects to register in each month to March 2009. (246770)

[holding answer 12 January 2009]: No figures are available for business registrations on supply2.gov.uk. The number of supplier user registrations to November 2008 is set out in the following table.

3,400 users are projected to register in each month between December 2008 and March 2009.