The provision for county enterprise boards in the Vote of the Department of Enterprise and Employment in 1994 was £9 million and the overall expenditure under that particular sub-head was £9.755 million. The 1995 Estimates for my Department provide £19.600 million to cover the running costs of the county enterprise boards.
Under the new Operational Programme for Local Urban and Rural Development, EU co-financing support will become available this year to enable county enterprise boards to extend their activities beyond grant-giving so as to assist the growth of small enterprises at local level through better business information, advice and counselling, as well as management development.