§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding has been provided by her Department to help finance(a) the Passport to Export Success scheme, (b) the Overseas Project Fund, (c) the British Overseas Industrial Placement, (d) the Outward Missions Support Unit, (e) inward trade missions, (f) the Export Promoter Initiatives, (g) the Export Marketing Research Initiative, (h) the Export Communications Review, (i) the Framework Programme 6 and (j) the Link Collaborative Research Initiative for each financial year since the inception of each; what funding has been allocated to finance each in future financial years; and if she 91W will estimate the extent to which businesses have benefited from each initiative to date. [149446]
§ Ms HewittThe schemes at(a) to (h) are administered by UK Trade and Investment (a joint FCO/DTI Department), and those at (i) and (j) by the Office of Science and Technology (OST) at the DTI.
£million Outturn Est. outturn Plans 2000—01 2001—02 2002—03 2003—04 2004—05 2005—06 (a) Passport to Export 10 2.1 3.6 5.5 5.0 5.0 (b) Overseas Project Fund 12.1 2.9 2.4 2.5 2.3 0.7 (c) British Ovs. Industrial placement Scheme (BOND) 0.28 0.3 0.3 0.3 0 0 (d) Outward Missions Scheme2 1.9 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.3 (e) Inward Missions Scheme 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 (f) Export Promoters Scheme 4.4 3.0 2.6 2.6 2.8 2.9 (g) Export Market Research Initiative 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 (h) Export Communications Review 0.15 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 1 Scheme under development. 2 Vertical missions will be subsumed into the Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad (SESA) scheme as of 1 April 2004. The BOND scheme at (c) ends in March 2004.
The support provided by UK Trade and Investment helps businesses to trade successfully in international markets. Those that do so are shown by independent research to be more productive, to pay higher wages and to be more capital intensive than those that do not. The current formal evaluation of the benefits to business from UKTI trade schemes is contained in UKTI's (then British Trade International) Departmental Report (Cm 5915) of May 2003, and in the Autumn Performance Report (Cm 5711) of December 2003, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House. Details of UKTI's 2003–04 performance measurement will be available in late February 2004, and will be included in UKTI's Departmental Report to be published in April 2004.
(i) the Framework Programme 6
The EU's Framework Programmes are funded from the EU budget, not DTI. The current budget for the period 2002 to 2006 is €17.5 billion. The programme supports a range of activities including collaborative research and technological development, researcher mobility, scientific infrastructure and co-ordination of national research funding. The Government's Memorandum and response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee inquiry (UK Science and Europe: Value for Money?) in 2003 outlined evidence for the benefit to the UK. The Government are examining these issues further in preparation for negotiation of the next programme. UK businesses benefit from participation in the programme in terms of funding, gaining access to European markets and researchers and participation/risk sharing in R&D on cutting edge technologies.
(j) the Link Collaborative Research Initiative
My Department has funded the LINK Collaborative Research scheme as follows:
92WThe funding figures available for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) trade support schemes, and projected funding, are as follows.
(a) to (h): Funding details for UK Trade and Investment trade support schemes:
Since 2001, funding has been provided to the schemes as follows:
£000 DTI Research Councils Total 1988–97 cumulative 86,873.5 70,369.1 157,242.6 1997–98 11,690.5 13,004.7 24,695.2 1998–99 9,498.1 20,307.3 29,805.4 1999–2000 7,475.1 21,968.2 29,443.3 2000–01 7,330.4 23,403.7 30,734.1 2001–02 9,887.6 23,656.3 33,543.9 2002–03 12,662.1 21,013.2 33,675.3 Total to 2002–03 145,417.3 193,722.5 33,9139.8 No specific funding amount is allocated for future years but follows the assessment of proposals for LINK Collaborative Research programmes.
Fourteen Government Departments and Research Councils sponsor LINK Collaborative Research. Participating businesses, which provide at least matching support for all Government funding, benefit from involvement in the scheme in a variety of ways. The report of a recent independent Strategic Review of LINK Collaborative Research included estimates of the economic benefits of LINK projects to UK business as follows.
- Extra business turnover:£700 million-£2,400 million1
- Increased profit: £250 million-£500 million1
- Increased employment: 15,000–25,000 posts1
- 1 Figures are low and high estimates for the direct effect of LINK Collaborative Research on the UK economy to 2000–01.