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The National Wealth Fund has backed key projects in the North and helped support or create thousands of jobs in its first year, a new report says.

After being set up by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year, the Leeds-based organisation says it has helped support or create more than 64,000 jobs around the º£½ÇÊÓƵ and mobilised £16.2bn in private investment into schemes in clean energy, housing and digital infrastructure.

Its first impact report highlights a number of schemes that have been backed in the North, including investments at the Port of Tyne, the Fidra energy storage scheme at Doncaster and the Haweswater Aqueduct that supplies water from Cumbria to 2.5m homes across the North West. Investment at the AESC battery plant at Sunderland was announced when Ms Reeves visited in May.

In the North East, the fund has invested over £670m, attracting more than £560m of private investment into projects that will create or support upwards of 5,000 jobs. In the North West, £460m has been invested, mobilising more than £720m of private investment into projects that will create or support upwards over 1,500 jobs. No specific figures were available for Yorkshire and Humber.

Chief impact officer Sheer Khan said: “We’ve achieved a lot in a short time, but there’s much more to come. We’ll continue to build the evidence base and expand into new sectors. We’re investing for the long-term: financing growth and powering change, with benefits that will be felt for years to come.”

Among the companies receiving backing from the Wealth Fund is semiconductor firm Pragmatic to support growth at its factory in County Durham. CEO Darren Moore said: "Support from the National Wealth Fund to scale and grow is incredibly important for tech companies, demonstrating that we can do advanced manufacturing here in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ. NWF’s investment isn’t just in our products but in our people, creating hundreds of high-skilled jobs, with many in Pragmatic Park in the North East of England."

Thanks has also come from Humber digital connectivity firm Quickline, whose CEO Sean Royce said: "Support from the NWF has been instrumental in helping Quickline accelerate our rollout to rural and hard-to-reach areas, delivering on the Government’s mission to close the digital divide and bring fast, reliable broadband to underserved communities.

"The NWF’s unique ability to deliver genuine social impact alongside strong financial performance has given us the confidence and capital to scale at pace, while creating jobs and opportunities across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Importantly, the investment has also enabled us to leverage additional private capital, amplifying the benefits for º£½ÇÊÓƵ businesses, communities and the wider economy."