Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 19 October 2016.
I was very pleased last week to be able to announce an additional £850,000 of European Union funding for the scheme that Mike Hedges refers to. Participating businesses in it include Tata Steel, BASF, the Royal Mint and others. They will be actively involved in formulating research projects based on the technological developments taking place within their industries. Our aim, as he knows, is to draw down the maximum possible of European funding while it is available to us. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement about the lifetime guarantee for schemes agreed prior to leaving the European Union is helpful in that way. I’m sure that this scheme will demonstrate its worth and we’ll then be able to argue for its continuation beyond the period of structural funding.