Lord Exmouthasked Her Majesty's Government:
What funding is currently available to organisations involved in research and development of emission-free forms of transport and whether the funding matches that which is currently made available to the automotive and oil industries in the form of subsidies.
§ Lord Fraser of Carmyllie:There are a number of programmes to support research and development which can be made available for work on low-emission forms of transport. The Government also contribute £360 million annually to the European Union's fourth framework programme, under which British companies can engage in collaborative projects with companies in other member states. Low emission transport is one of the areas eligible for support.
It is not possible to quantify separately the total amount spent on R&D in this area because of the number of different programmes concerned.
There are no subsidies available to either the automotive industry or the oil industry, other than schemes generally available to all industries for regional development or similar purposes.