Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant the Answer of 6 November 2017 to Question 110943 on European Investment Bank: North East, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the extra due diligence on the timetable for the allocation of funds in the North East.

HM Treasury has been working closely with both the EIB and the North-East Fund with the aim of seeing the North-East Fund’s application progressed as quickly as possible.

Significant, positive progress was made in December 2017 with the EIB Management Committee giving its approval to the application. We are now confident that the North-East Fund’s application can move forward quickly. However, the final decision on signature is a commercial decision for the North-East Fund, subject to the standard contract negotiations between themselves and the EIB.