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Written question asked by James Paice (Conservative) on Wednesday, 8 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 February 2006. It was answered by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Thursday, 16 February 2006 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Research and Development Grants

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what training is provided for assessment of applications for research and development grants; and what methods are used to assess their knowledge of business, commerce and technical innovation.
Answer

The Technology Programme, managed by DTI, offers grant support for Collaborative Research and Development projects undertaken by Industry and the Science Base in prescribed high technology areas. Prior to undertaking any assessment, the status, technical qualifications, and business experience of Assessors is obtained and used to associate them to the applications that they may subsequently be asked to assess. In addition, prior to any Assessor being offered an assessment, unless they have had previous recognised experience in assessing applications to similar programme, all Assessors are required to attend a one-day briefing session that addresses all aspects of the process programme and an explanation of the criteria used for assessment. All the Assessors are recognised domain specialists and drawn from business, academia and/or from government research establishments and they are required to abide to strict confidentiality and non-conflict of interest agreements.Grant for Research and Development, which helps individuals and small and medium sized businesses with the costs of researching and developing new, technologically innovative products and processes, has been delivered by the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) since 1 April 2005. On transferring the scheme, DTI undertook a programme of training and provided RDAs with extensive guidance on the framework within which applications should be appraised.In appraising the technical and commercial aspects of applications RDAs take advice, in confidence, from qualified accountants, the Patent Office and internationally-renowned external organisations that are well qualified to judge the merits of a proposals. As an additional safeguard, RDAs will normally seek advice from two different external organisations when appraising an application.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
442 c2402-3W;442 c2402-3W; 51493
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Assessments Business Finance Innovation Grants Training Research Regional development agencies
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk