Local Enterprise Companies

Mr. Graham
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will give the date of incorporation and the operational commencement date for the local enterprise company for Argyll, Arran and the Cumbraes;(2) if he will list

(a) the dates of incorporation and (b) the operational commencement dates of each local enterprise company operating in the area formerly covered by the Scottish Development Agency in 1991–92.

Mr. Allan Stewart
The local enterprise company for Argyll, Bute, Arran and the Cumbraes was incorporated on 6 August 1990; the remainder of the information requested about incorporation dates is set out in the table.---------------------------------
|Local enterprise company       |
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|Borders                        |
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|Central                        |
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|Grampian                       |
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|Lanarkshire                    |
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|Lothian                        |
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|Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey1|
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|Tayside                        |
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Operational commencement is not readily linked to a single date. Local enterprise companies' operations have commenced in all cases, with the business planning process, and they are increasingly involved in operational decisions both about individual projects and about matters such as the agreement of new contracts with training providers. The next stage will be for detailed operational contracts to be awarded to companies by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In general, these contracts will be awarded over the next few weeks and will result in local enterprise companies becoming fully operational on 1 April, the same date as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise take over full operational responsibility from their predecessor bodies.