Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of UK SHORE funding; and what is the status of the future of that funding.

The UK SHORE programme has funded over 150 projects and has leveraged over £100m private investment, supporting all levels of research and development including feasibility studies, trials and demonstrations in a commercial environment. The funding is benefitting all 12 regions in the UK, supporting over 350 organisations, including over 200 SMEs.

All projects are detailed on Innovate UK’s website and we are conducting in independent evaluation assessment of the programme which is measuring its impact and helping us shape future support as well as policy.

Following the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, DfT now has its budget for the next Financial Year (2025 / 2026). We are waiting for the internal business planning process to conclude before we can confirm what that means in terms of funding for individual programmes.