£506m of Regional Growth Fund spending announced

Projects and programmes for the fourth round of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) will be announced today by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

The Deputy Prime Minister will announce that 102 companies and projects that applied for funding have been successful, following the most competitive round of the Fund so far.

The companies will take a share of a £506 million pot of funding to attract significant private sector investment and create thousands of jobs across the country.

The half a billion pounds of investment will help companies to expand their operations, create new jobs and stimulate private sector growth.

Visiting Toyota in Derbyshire – one of the companies that will receive a share of the money, the Deputy Prime Minister 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 that have plans for the future and want to recruit local talent that will make their businesses better.

“The Regional Growth Fund is exactly what this country needs to go for growth - from family-run Cartwright Group in Manchester who are now expanding to create 300 jobs and train up to 30 apprentices every year for the next three years, to Toyota who will use the money to help increase their ability to develop and produce new generations of Toyota cars right here in the UK, securing jobs and creating opportunities for the future.”

The different projects and programmes from this round will leverage £2.8 billion of additional private sector investment and create or safeguard 77,000 jobs.

Earlier in the week the Business Secretary, Vince Cable visited Rofin-Sinar, a laser technology company in Hull to announce £2.4 million in RGF funding for a total of 14 companies through the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) programme.

Mr Cable said: “In tough economic times we need successful schemes such as the Regional Growth Fund which has been vital in stimulating private investment that would otherwise not have gone ahead. We have already helped over 2,600 SMEs through RGF programmes and recently announced a further £600 million RGF funding to be available from 2015 so that we can continue to support British business and manufacturing.

“We are laying the right foundations for stability and good solid business growth as well as supporting sectors prioritised in the government’s industrial strategy – from automotive to oil and gas. Companies and their local economies are seeing the benefits of the Regional Growth Fund, creating jobs for the long term.”

Roger Salomone, head of business Environment at EEF said: “The Regional Growth Fund has played a vital role unlocking a significant amount of private sector investment around the country, supporting businesses and promoting growth. The latest wave of investment is testament to the fund’s continued importance and the government’s commitment to extend it to 2017 is particularly welcome.

“With significant new funding for organisations such as Local Enterprise Partnerships coming on-stream, we would like to see future regional growth funds focus on supporting business-led projects.”

Business Minister Michael Fallon, who will visit Cab Automotive in the West Midlands to announce their Round 3 award today (Thursday 11 July) said: “The quality of applications was very high which is why we increased the pot to over £506 million to accommodate even more projects and programmes which will bring sustainable private sector growth and jobs across the country.

“My focus has always been on delivery and the deadlines I introduced have helped speed up the awards process so that companies have more certainty to invest, hire and grow. We will now work with chosen bidders to quickly agree the terms of their offers and complete due diligence checks.”

Nicola Walker, CBI head of Infrastructure, added: “The Regional Growth Fund is an important form of finance support for growing businesses so it’s encouraging to see awareness of the scheme improving with more bidders coming forward.

“To ensure the smooth running of the Fund it’s crucial that the Government sticks to its commitment of making final offers and completing due diligence within six months. We also want to see the bid threshold reduced so that future funding rounds attract more small and medium-sized firms which have so much potential to grow.”