§ Mr. WarrenTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement as to the reason for the delays in the allocation of funds to projects in the information engineering advanced technology programme.
§ Mr. Douglas Hogg[holding answer 1 December 1989]: About 80 per cent. of the offers under the first round of this programme have now been made. I am very conscious of the need to get the outstanding projects under way as soon as possible.
A major reason why offers have been delayed is that many companies have been slow to provide supporting information to explain the basis of their costs or to demonstrate their viability. Furthermore, many research consortia have needed reorganisation, following decisions by individual partners not to pursue the project as 9W originally proposed. The Department tries to be helpful in such cases and allow a reasonable time for a revised proposal to be submitted.