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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the schemes which provide financial help for the shipbuilding industry; how much financial support has been contributed to these schemes by the Government since May 1997; and if he will list the beneficiaries of the assistance. [127830] Mr. Alan Johnson: Assistance to the shipbuilding industry is provided through the Shipbuilding Intervention Fund (SIF); the Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (HSCGS); and through the Innovation Budget. Grant assistance under SIF has been: Financial Year 1997-98 £7.01 million; Financial Year 1998-99 £10.54 million and in Financial Year 1999-2000 £3.99 million. The HSCGS is based upon offering long-term loans at a fixed rate of interest of 7 1/2 per cent. DTI pays out subsidy or receives income depending on the relationship of market rates to that fixed rate. The net cost to/receipts by the DTI of the Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme have been: in Financial Year 1997-98 the Department received £223,000; in Financial Year 1998-99 the Department paid out £1,960,000 and in Financial Year 1999-2000 the Department received £1,991,000. Since May 1997, DTI has supported two competitiveness projects under the Innovation Budget. The first, a study of the policies of the Dutch shipbuilding industry in June 1999, had a DTI contribution of £20,000 and the second, completed in September 1999, was to assist the shipyards to benchmark their production and other business processes. That grant was for £94,245. Details of the SIF grants and HSCGS loans are confidential to the individual recipient companies. The recipient of both Innovation Budget competitiveness grants was the Shipbuilders and Shiprepairers Association, the industry's trade association.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

127830; 352 c455-6W

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Grants Government assistance Subsidies Shipbuilding Home shipbuilding credit guarantee scheme Shipbuilding Intervention Fund

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk