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Strategic Investment Fund

Volume 501: debated on Tuesday 1 December 2009

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding from the Strategic Investment Fund has been (a) disbursed and (b) allocated to projects in each (i) constituency, (ii) local authority area and (iii) Government Office region since the inception of that Fund. (301874)

Over £720 million has already been allocated from the Strategic Investment Fund for specific projects and investments. We expect that in the region of £200 million will have been spent by the end of this current financial year.

The SIF is a UK-wide fund, and many of the projects supported by the SIF are themselves UK-wide in geographical scope. This includes for example achieving universal access to broadband, as part of the Digital Britain programme, and the UK Innovation Investment Fund. It is not possible at present to provide information on the geographical distribution of spend under these projects.

A number of other projects supported under the SIF can be identified to specific geographical locations, though the benefits of the projects will often be felt over a much wider area. Projects of this kind include the following, which will receive either full or part funding from the SIF:

Project

Geographical location

Total BIS support (£ million)

Industrial Biotech Demonstrator

Wilton, Teesside

12.0

Airbus A350XWB Launch Investment

Broughton, Clwyd and Filton, SW England

340.0

Printable Electronics Centre

Sedgefield, Durham

12.0

Rolls Royce low carbon aeroengine technology

Derby, East Midlands

45.0

Centre of Excellence for Silicon Design

Bristol, SW England

0.5

National Composites Centre

Bristol, SW England

12.0

Stevenage Bioscience Park

Stevenage, Herts

12.0

Wave Hub—test-bed for wave energy devices

Hayle, Cornwall

9.5

South West Marine Energy Development

SW England

10.0

Wave and Tidal Energy Test Centre

Blyth, Northumberland

10.0

Further details on these projects and other investments being funded from the SIF are contained in the Interim Report the Department published in October, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.