PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
NORTH EAST PHARMACEUTICAL AND SPECIALITY CHEMICALS CLUSTER (3 November 2003)

That this House welcomes and congratulates the launch of the North East Pharmaceutical and Speciality Chemicals Cluster (P and S Cluster) formed to represent over 150 North East companies operating in this highly skilled scientific sector and who together account for approximately ú4.5 billion of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product, and who employ around 14,000 people in the North East Region; acknowledges the crucial contribution these world class companies make in terms of inward investment, improving access to cutting edge research and knowledge-building in areas relating to health care and manufacturing; notes the outstanding achievement of the North East Regional Development Agency (ONE NE) in bringing together such major companies as Pfizer, Rhodia Pharma Solutions and Merck Sharpe and Dohme to form the first cluster group of this kind in the United Kingdom; and believes that the Pharmaceutical and Speciality Chemicals Cluster can build on its success and serve as a model for other sectors of industry and commerce across the United Kingdom.

Sponsored by:
Dr Ashok Kumar (Labour)