To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications (a) in total and (b) from businesses registered in Scotland for loans under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme have been (i) made and (ii) granted. (315310)

Under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, as of 27 January 2010, over £1.13 billion of eligible applications from over 10,000 businesses have been granted, are being processed or assessed. Of these, 7,792 businesses have been offered loans totalling £794.71 million.

In Scotland, £86.92 million of eligible applications from 686 businesses have been granted, are being processed or assessed. Of these, 544 businesses have been offered loans totalling £70.69 million.

Businesses may apply for a loan from any of the participating lenders who will assess which form of lending, including the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, is most appropriate. We do not hold figures for those businesses which are instead offered a normal commercial loan, or are rejected for failing to meet the lenders’ normal commercial criteria.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department and its predecessors have taken to support small businesses in Hemsworth since 1997. (316613)

Since 1997 the Government have implemented a wide range of measures to support business, including small and medium-sized businesses. Statistical information on these measures is not available at constituency level. Statistical information has been provided at the Wakefield local authority level where available. The principal measures are as follows.

In 1998, the Government set up the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward, to deliver a joined-up approach to economic development in the region. In support of its objective of promoting business efficiency, investment and competitiveness Yorkshire Forward has provided grants for businesses through the Selective Finance for Investment (SFI) scheme, which started in April 2004, and its successor the Grants for Business Investment (GBI) scheme, which started in October 2008. Yorkshire Forward has made 27 SFI and GBI grant offers to businesses in Wakefield totalling £3.2 million, creating or safeguarding 355 jobs. Yorkshire Forward has also provided grants to support research and development by small and medium sized businesses, through the SMART scheme and its successor, the Grants for Research and Development scheme. Since 2000, Yorkshire Forward has offered 25 research and development grants totalling £1.5 million to small and medium sized businesses in Wakefield.

Since 2004, Business Link Yorkshire has been the single contact point for all publicly funded support available to businesses in Yorkshire and The Humber. This has made it easier for businesses to access information, advice and support on issues including business regulation, best practice, marketing, innovation, financial support and help with exporting. For example in 2009/10 to date, Business Link Yorkshire has helped 2,578 businesses in the Wakefield area and 913 individuals thinking of starting a business. As part of the Government's Real Help Now package we are providing more help for businesses to survive during the current economic conditions. Since October 2008 this has included a free Business Link health check which can be a useful starting point for identifying further business support tailored to the needs of individual companies. To date Business Link Yorkshire has arranged 548 health checks for small and medium sized businesses in Wakefield. In addition, the Yorkshire Forward funded Financial Health Check, which offers a grant of £2,000 for accountants to carry out a full review, has benefited 63 businesses in Wakefield.

Small and medium sized manufacturing businesses in Wakefield can also benefit from the Yorkshire and Humber Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), which was set up by BERR in 2002 to provide practical hands-on support to business in all aspects of manufacturing. In 2009 the Yorkshire and Humber MAS carried out over 1,000 manufacturing reviews and over 340 improvement projects, creating or safeguarding over 3,100 jobs, with an estimated total potential increase in GVA of £30.3 million. Figures at local level are not available.

Under the European Regional Development Funded Objective 2 programme between 2000 and 2008 over £93 million was provided to support small and medium enterprises in the Objective 2 areas in Yorkshire and the Humber, which included Wakefield. Figures at local level are not available.

Details of the wide range of Government funded support for business available are on the Real Help Now website

www.realhelpnow.gov.uk

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the criteria are for the award of a loan to a company under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme. (316783)

There are three main criteria for a business being offered an EFG loan application:

The business meeting the lender's normal commercial criteria in relation to the viability of the business and serviceability of the loan. This judgment will vary according to the lender concerned.

The lender determining that use of EFG, rather than a normal commercial loan, is necessary because of no or insufficient security available on the part of the business.

The business meeting the basic EFG eligibility criteria

Each lender has access to the EFG web portal through which they administer the EFG eligibility criteria. The main EFG eligibility criteria, with respect to the size of loan, purpose of loan, turnover size, business sector etc, is detailed on the BIS website:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/enterprise/finance/efc/page37607.html