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 proportion of projects funded through the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition and the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure Fund are expected to involve small and medium-sized enterprises.

All UK SHORE funding, including the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition and the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure scheme, is allocated through fair and open competition. Assessments of the bids will be made once the application window closes, 15 July for CMDC Round 7 and 16 September for ZEVI Round 2.

To date, UK SHORE funding has supported eleven different organisations in Essex, eight of which were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is out of a total of 500 businesses across the UK, including 250 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The first two Clean Maritime Decarbonisation Competition (CMDC) rounds alone supported over 750 new and existing jobs. Ports in Essex have received £129,152 of UK SHORE funding to date.