Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled £271 million to clean up shipping and power coastal communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy regional distribution of funding from the £271 million clean maritime investment.

Regional investment levels will be assessed as part of the project bidding process, which operates through fair and open competition and is independently assessed. Since 2021, the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) has allocated £260 million in funding to over 200 projects in all 12 regions and nations of the UK, and we expect similar coverage for the recently announced £271m.

To ensure the funding is widely communicated and all regions benefit from the competitions, we are working through Innovate UK to host industry events across the country. Innovate UK hosted a national briefing event online on the 19th of March, where details of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 7 were shared. This event is open to all organisations who are interested in applying to the CMDC7 competition. Further events will be held for the Zero Emission and Vessel Infrastructure scheme.