HC Deb 18 March 2003 vol 401 cc688-91W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what guidance she has issued to the assessors of applications for funding to the LINK Programme in respect of the provision of feedback to unsuccessful applicants. [101877]

Ms Hewitt

LINK is a pan-government scheme for the support of collaborative research between UK companies and the science base. It consists of a number of individual programmes which have their own management and feedback procedures agreed by the sponsoring Departments in line with overall LINK Scheme guidelines which aim to ensure that constructive and unambiguous feedback is provided. Each programme funds a number of projects.

I believe that my hon. Friend has a particular interest in the LINK Basic Technologies for Industrial Applications programme. Within this programme, all projects are assessed by an independent panel against the criteria for support for the programme, which are included in the guidance notes to applicants and published on the programme website at www.basictechnologies.gov.uk. Aspects considered in assessing project proposals include: the level of innovation including the potential for a step-change in industrial capability; the risks and likely rewards in using the new technology; the feasibility of the proposed approach; the quality, relevant expertise and resources of the consortium; the range of potential beneficiaries; the strength of the UK science base in the technical areas involved; the potential for lasting benefit to UK capability beyond the life of the project; and the level of wider industrial interest.

The programme coordinator provides feedback on the panel's recommendations to all applicants and has been asked to point out both the strengths and weaknesses in the proposal in line with the assessment criteria above. Where possible, guidance is also provided to the unsuccessful applicants on other possible sources of funding where these can be identified. As 140 outline proposals were received under the current call, it was not possible to provide immediate detailed written feedback to all applicants. However, applicants could telephone or e-mail the coordinator for further feedback on the panel's recommendation and over 50 consortia did. With funds available to offer support to less than 20 projects, only the projects which best met all the criteria were invited to come forward as full proposals and inevitably some good projects were rejected.

Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications for funding have been made to the LINK Programme in the current financial year; and what the(a) name, (b) subject and (c) cost is of each application which has been approved. [101878]

Ms Hewitt

LINK is a pan-government scheme for the support of collaborative research between UK companies and the science base. It consists of a number of individual programmes which run their own calls for proposals. There are currently 25 programmes open for applications. Each programme funds a number of projects.

I believe that my hon. Friend has a particular interest in the LINK Basic Technologies for Industrial Applications programme. In the case of this programme, a call for proposals was announced by my noble Friend, the Minister for Science and Innovation on 26 July 2002, with a closing date of 7 November 2002. 140 outline applications were received, of which 20 were invited to come forward as full proposals to the second stage of the appraisal process. 19 full proposals were received by the closing date of 20 February 2003 and are now being assessed by an independent panel of industrial and academic experts. Therefore, at this stage, no projects have been approved for funding under the programme.

Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what management arrangements she has established for processing applications under the LINK Programme; and if she will make a statement. [101879]

Ms Hewitt

LINK is a pan-government scheme for the support of collaborative research between UK companies and the science base. It consists of a number of individual programmes which have their own management procedures agreed by the sponsoring Departments in line with overall LINK Scheme guidelines. Each programme funds a number of projects.

I believe that my hon. Friend has a particular interest in the LINK Basic Technologies for Industrial Applications programme. In the case of this programme, my Department is the primary sponsor and has established a 2-stage process for assessing applications to minimise unnecessary work for applicants whose projects may not be strong candidates for support.

Initial outline proposals, consisting of a 3-page project description with a covering application form, are submitted to the programme co-ordinators by the advertised closing date. These proposals are then circulated to an appraisal panel of independent industrial and academic experts, who assess the proposals against the programme's criteria for support, in particular, the degree of innovation and the potential long-term wider benefit for UK productivity. The panel, which has an independent chairman from industry, meets to review the proposals and recommends those which it considers should come forward as full proposals, bearing in mind the funds available for commitment. The project applicants are then informed of the panel's recommendation by e-mail. A telephone contact number and e-mail address are provided for applicants who wish to seek further feedback or discuss the panel's recommendation. The target for the process from closing date to notification is 30 working days, which was achieved in the call currently under way which involved 140 applications. With such a large number of applications, it is not possible to give detailed feedback to all the applicants within the stated target times for processing.

The projects invited to submit full proposals are given a closing date for submission about two months after notification. They are provided with feedback from the appraisal panel and visited by the programme co-ordinators or officials to provide advice on preparing a full application. The full application consists of a 10-page project description with technical annexes plus a LINK summary application form and application forms from each of the consortium members summarising company and financial information. The full proposals are again circulated to the appraisal panel and additional input is sought from other experts where appropriate. The panel meets to review all the proposals and recommends to DTI those which should be supported. The proposals are ranked to enable the available funds to be assigned to the strongest proposals. The applicants are notified of the recommendations of the panel which indicate that, subject to satisfactory financial arrangements being completed, the project will be offered grant support. The target to complete the process from closing date to notification is 40 working days.

Information on the programme, including application forms and guidance notes for applicants, are available on the programme website at www.basictechnologies.gov.uk, which is maintained by the programme co-ordinators.