Growth programmes receive regional funding
Author: Ruth Keeling , LGC |
Local authorities and local enterprise partnerships are among the dozens of bodies which have been awarded part of a £506m regional growth fund award.
Amongst the 102 companies and bodies set to receive a share of the fourth funding round were a number of local growth programmes run by councils and other public sector bodies.
There was also a funding allocation set aside for the growth hubs within the wave two city deals, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills said.
BIS also published a monitoring report which said job creation was on target with funding rounds one and two creating or safegaurding 58,600 jobs – 20% of the overall job commitment made by projects for a ten year period.
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said: “There are more people in work today than ever before – since 2010 we have helped create 1.3 million jobs in the private sector. That’s what the Regional Growth Fund is all about – and I’m extremely proud to have found extra money to invest in projects across the country.”
However, shadow minister for regional growth Gordon Marsden (Lab) said the fund continued to be “micromanaged by Whitehall and has been plagued from the start by delays in delivery and the due diligence process. At the government’s last count, at least 57 projects from the opening rounds have fallen by the wayside in the process.”
The new monitoring report “needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt if it merely compiled by the same Whitehall civil servants overseeing the scheme”, he added. “If the government wants to be truly transparent about the fund they should submit these job creation figures for independent analysis by the National Audit Office.”
Local programmes given conditional offers of funding were:
North-west
Accelerating Business Growth Plus Programme – Blackburn with Darwen BC
Unleashing Cumbria’s Potential – Cumbria CC
Turning Discovery Science and Knowledge into Jobs and Growth – Greater Manchester LEP
Liverpool City Region Small Business Support Fund – Liverpool City Region LEP
St Helens Jobs and Growth Fund – St Helens Chamber
Catalyst for Growth – University of Chester
Yorkshire & Humber
Paull strategic employment site – East Riding of Yorkshire Council
The enhanced Business Growth Programme – Leeds City Region LEP
Developing the UK’s Leading Food Manufacturing Cluster in Greater Lincolnshire – North East Lincolnshire Council
Unlocking (more) Business Investment – Sheffield City Council
York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Business Grant Programme
West Midlands
GBS Mezzanine Funding Programme – Birmingham City Council
Coventry and Warwickshire Business Finance – Coventry & Warwickshire LEP
The Marches and Worcestershire Redundant Building Grant Programme – Herefordshire Council
Growing Priority Sectors in the Black Country – Sandwell MBC
Innovative Growth in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire – Stoke on Trent City Council
Worcestershire Expansion Fund – Worcestershire CC
North-east
Tees Valley Innovation and Skills Growth Hub – Stockton BC
Sunderland City Deal Infrastructure Development – Sunderland City Council
Bringing Finance to Businesses in the North East – Sunderland City Council
South-west
GAIN Growth Fund Plus – Plymouth City Council
Innovation for Growth Programme – University of the West of England
East of England
Eastern England Agri-Tech Growth Initiative – Cambridgeshire CC
New Anglia Growing Business Fund – Suffolk CC
South-east
Escalate – the Innovation and Growth Fund – Kent CC
East Sussex Invest – East Sussex CC
Southeast Urban Coast Creative Enterprise Support Scheme – Hastings BC
East Midlands
“Global Derbyshire” Small Business Support Programme – Derbyshire CC
The Lincoln Growth Fund – University of Lincoln
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