§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the withdrawal by Advantage West Midlands of agreed funding for the Kismet Road project; and what assessment she has made of the effect on companies which have incurred costs as a result. [177206]
§ Jacqui SmithAdvantage West Midlands received an application for funding for the Kismet Road project but was unable to make an offer of support.
Any funding given by Advantage West Midlands is subject to a formal appraisal process. Early on in the appraisal process, it became clear that Advantage West Midlands could not fund the project because there were irreconcilable anomalies and inconsistencies within the application's proposed funding package and the project offered no acceptable outputs. That decision was communicated to the applicant at the earliest opportunity.