HC Deb 29 April 1994 vol 242 cc346-7W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing the total number of applications, the number of successful projects, the number of participating companies and the total sum committed in(a) SMART and (b) SPUR awards; and if he will provide a regional breakdown.

Mr. McLoughlin

The number of applications, the number of successful projects and the sum committed between 1 April 1993 and 31 March 1994 under the small firms merit award for research and technology—SMART —and support for products under research—SPURschemes are shown in the tables. Both schemes offer support to single businesses and the number of successful projects is the number of participating companies.

SMART
Small Firms Merit Award for Research and Technology
Region/Office Applications Successful projects Sum Committed (£ million)
East 180 28 1.32
East Midlands 118 26 1.28
North East 72 9 0.39
NorthWest 175 27 1.27
South East 443 61 2.99
South West 178 33 1.57
West Midlands 145 28 1.31
Yorkshire/Humberside 116 25 1.20
Welsh Office 107 24 1.14
Scottish Office 150 32 1.57
Northern Ireland Office 37 9 0.45
TOTAL 1,721 302 14.49

SPUR
Support for Products Under Research
Region/Office Applications Successful projects Sum Committed (£ million)
East 8 13 1.25
East Midlands 9 8 0.92
North East 10 6 0.49
North West 30 17 1.19
Southeast 28 24 2.30
SouthWest 24 16 1.24
West Midlands 20 18 0.80
Yorkshire/Humberside 20 19 1.71
Welsh Office 12 8 0.76
Scottish Office 12 8 0.91
TOTAL 173 137 11.57

Note: Some successful projects result from applications in the previous financial year.

Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 4 March,Official Report, columns 891–92, what was the number of responses and applications to (a) the 1994 SMART—small firms merit award for research and technology—scheme and (b) the 1994 Queen's awards.

Mr. McLoughlin

I hope to be able to announce shortly the number of responses and applications to the 1994 SMART scheme. For the 1994 Queen's awards there were 10,733 inquiries and 1,682 applications.

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