§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funds have been promised to Jaguar Cars for(a) the X200 project and (b) the X400 project; what payments have been made to date; and when full payment will be made on each of the projects. [129225]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonIn 1995 Jaguar received an offer of £48 million Regional Selective Assistance (RSA), plus a £32 million package of local support measures to attract the X200 (S-Type) project to Castle Bromwich. Following discussions with the European Commission, the RSA element of the £80 million package was subsequently revised to £40 million. However, the Commission subsequently agreed in principle that additional aid up to the original £80 million total might be provided.
Jaguar also received in 1998 an aid support offer of £40 million RSA and up to £3 million in local support measures to secure the X400 project for Halewood—the X400 package has been fully approved by the European Commission.
The detail of the payments made and their timing is a commercial matter between Jaguar and the aid providers concerned. However in major aid cases such as this, RSA support is normally phased over a number of years.