Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of EU structural funding, such as the European Regional Development Fund, on the UK's ability to build research capacity in less economically developed regions of the UK.

For the 2014-20 Structural Funds programming period, the EU has designated two regions of the UK as ‘less developed regions’: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and West Wales and the Valleys. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports research and innovation in both areas. Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been allocated around €90 million in EU funding for research and innovation, with the aim of supporting 550 enterprises. West Wales and the Valleys have been allocated around €300 million, with the aim of providing around 500 grants to enterprises and supporting cooperation between 1,200 enterprises and research institutions.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper states that the Government will carefully consider the future of the European Structural and Investment Funds following the UK’s exit from the European Union, including the support available to less developed areas.