§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has any plans to withdraw support for the microprocessor application programme or the support for innovation schemes.
§ Mr. PattieI announced on 12 November that, pending the completion of a review of the Department's support for industrial research and development, the Department would not accept any new applications for certain categories of project support. Among these are research and development projects from single firms on standard "support for innovation" terms — this would cover projects under the microelectronics application project (MAP).
I cannot anticipate the outcome of the review.