Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of businesses that were granted vouchers through the Help to Grow: Digital scheme did not redeem those vouchers; and what the total value of those unredeemed vouchers was.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The number of unredeemed vouchers for Help to Grow: Digital as of 31/03/23 (Date of closure) is 575 which is c41.25% of vouchers approved. As the cost of the voucher would be dependent on the software purchased, it is not possible to provide a definitive total value of unredeemed vouchers. Unredeemed vouchers do not incur a cost to government.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department conducted any impact assessments on the design of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department conducted a Public Sector Equality Duty impact assessment during the development of the programme. A business impact assessment was not required as the scheme was not enacted through legislation or regulation however options were assessed as part of the development of the business case. An evaluation is being undertaken to understand lessons to be learned from the design of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme following its closure. These findings will be applied to future policies, including within digital adoption.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many vouchers issued under the help to grow digital scheme were successfully claimed for (a) accounting, (b) e-commerce and (c) customer relationship software.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The number of claimed vouchers issued for each software type were as follows:
a) Accountancy – 191 Vouchers.
b) E-commerce – 203 Vouchers.
c) Customer Relationship Management – 436 Vouchers.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she made an assessment of alternatives to the Help to Grow: Digital Scheme before announcing the closure of that scheme on 15 December 2022.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department considered alternative options to deliver the Help to Grow: Digital scheme before announcing its closure however we could not justify its continued cost to the taxpayer due to the lower than expected take up. The decision to close the scheme enabled the Government to refocus efforts towards other support mechanisms for small businesses, ensuring businesses get the backing they need in the most efficient and productive way possible. The Help to Grow: Management scheme remains in place and includes a module to assist in understanding digital adoption.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding was allocated to the Help to Grow: Digital scheme; and how much was spent.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Help To Grow Digital (HTGD) had an initial budget allocation for each of the HTGD scheme years which were as follows: 21/22 - £20m, 22/23 - £72m, 23/24 - £107m and 24/25 £97m* (* - subject to Spending Review).
When the scheme finally closed on 31st March 2023, the total RDEL Programme spend was c£31.4m.
The decision to close the scheme enabled the Government to refocus efforts towards other support mechanisms for small businesses, ensuring businesses get the backing they need in the most efficient and productive way possible.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many applications were received for the Help to Grow: Digital scheme; and how many of them were (a) accepted and (b) rejected.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
At the closure of the Help to Grow Digital scheme (31/03/23), 1527 applications for vouchers had been received. 1394 applications were accepted, and 133 applications were rejected.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Government's publication A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation, published on 29 March 2023, how much and what proportion of the budget of each regulator in their Department was spent on regulation of artificial intelligence in the latest period for which information is available; how many staff in each regulator worked (a) wholly and (b) partly on those issues in the latest period for which information is available; and whether those regulators plan to increase resources for their work on artificial intelligence.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of the AI regulation White Paper consultation, the Government is engaging closely with regulators across the wider landscape to understand the organisation capacity they need to regulate AI effectively.
The Department for Business and Trade sponsors the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). CMA staff recorded approximately 2,300 hours on the CMA’s “AI Foundation Models: Initial Review” project from 27 March to 2 June 2023. This equates to approximately 7 FTE. In addition, given the CMA’s remit other work by CMA staff may have direct or indirect relevance to AI. Decisions on future allocation of CMA resources will depend on the findings of the CMA’s initial review and other demands at that time.
The Department directly includes or sponsors a number of other regulators and public bodies, such as the Office for Product Safety and Standards and the Financial Reporting Council. These regulators are not directly responsible for regulating AI but may consider its implications and effects across numerous parts of their work. It is not possible to accurately disaggregate resource working on AI issues for these bodies.