Regional Growth Fund

Michael Fallon Excerpts

Thursday 11th July 2013 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)]

Today my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will announce that 102 projects and programmes have been awarded a total of £506 million in round 4 of the regional growth fund (RGF). This additional support for the private sector in England will help ensure that RGF money is now helping an increasing number of companies to invest in long-term job creation schemes in communities that need private investment. I am publishing a list of all 102 projects and programmes that have been selected for support in round 4, at annex A.

In autumn statement 2012 the Government announced that £350 million would be made available for round 4 of the RGF, including £140 million of recycled funds from previous rounds. Such was the high quality of the bids received that Ministers have decided to use an additional £156 million of recycled funds in order to bring the total amount of RGF awarded in round 4 up to £506 million.

In round 4, £314 million will go directly to the private sector, comprising 60 awards to companies and 12 private sector-run RGF programmes. A total of £192 million has been awarded to 30 other programme beneficiaries such as local authorities and local enterprise partnerships to support local growth priorities in their areas.

This means that since the start of the RGF over £1 billion has been made available to SMEs in England through RGF-supported programmes. Further details on how the RGF helps support SMEs can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/regional-growth-fund-a-guide-for-small-and-medium-enterprises-smes.

The £2.6 billion of support awarded across the first four rounds of the RGF will help to lever an additional £14.7 billion of private sector money, ensuring a sizeable combined investment by the Government and companies in communities throughout England between 2011 and 2024. This investment will create and safeguard 550,000 jobs across England. The announcement on 26 June 2013 by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer of a further £600 million for the RGF is testament that the RGF will continue to help secure private sector investment and job creation plans for many years to come.

RGF Annual Monitoring Report 2013

In addition, today the Government will publish the first RGF annual monitoring report. The report details the progress made by the 239 projects and programmes selected in RGF rounds 1 and 2 from the day they were chosen for support through to 31 March 2013.

The report shows that progress on directly monitored job delivery in rounds 1 and 2 to date is on target, with 32,000 directly monitored jobs created and safeguarded up to 31 March 2013. The total employment impact, both directly monitored and advised jobs, is estimated at 58,600 jobs—20% of the overall job total committed to by the 197 round 1 and 2 beneficiaries that are progressing.

The combined RGF and private sector investment was £1.2 billion at 31 March 2013, including support to over 1,700 SMEs.

Copies of the RGF annual monitoring report 2013 have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Annex A—List of Selected Bidders in Round 4

East Midlands

UK Stem Cell Provision (Anthony Nolan)

Bifrangi UK Ltd

Chinook Sciences Ltd

“Global Derbyshire” Small Business Support Programme (Derbyshire County Council—Programme)

Dynex Semiconductor Ltd

Fairline Boats Ltd

Frontier Agriculture Ltd (Programme)

Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Accelerating Prosperity Programme (Leicester City Council—Programme)

Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (Programme)

Oclaro Technology Ltd

Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd

The Lincoln Growth Fund (University of Lincoln—Programme)

VF Northern Europe Ltd

East of England, South East

Eastern England Agri-Tech Growth Initiative (Cambridgeshire County Council—Programme)

Coast to Capital City High Growth and Innovation Fund (Coast to Capital LEP—Programme)

Cummins Power Generation Ltd (CPG)

e2v Technologies (UK) Ltd

East Sussex Invest (East Sussex County Council—Programme)

Element Six Ltd

Fianium Ltd

GE Aviation Systems

Harwell Science and Innovation Campus GP

SUCCESS—Southeast Urban Coast Creative Enterprise Support Scheme (Hastings Borough Council—Programme)

Escalate—the Innovation and Growth Fund (Kent County Council—Programme)

Portsmouth/Southampton (Programme)

STRUCTeam Ltd

New Anglia Growing Business Fund (Suffolk County Council—Programme)

TAG Farnborough Airport Ltd

The Oxford Trust/Science Oxford

SPI Lasers UK Ltd

North East

Air Fuel Synthesis Ltd/Crane Services (UK) Ltd

JDR Cable Systems Ltd

JDR Enterprises Ltd

Molplex Ltd

NET Power Europe

Tees Valley Innovation and Skills Growth Hub (Stockton Borough Council—Programme)

Sunderland City Deal Infrastructure Development (Sunderland City Council—Programme)

Bringing Finance to Businesses in the North East (Sunderland City Council—Programme)

Thomas Swan and Co. Ltd

Tinsley Special Products Ltd

North West

Accelerating Business Growth PLUS (Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council—Programme)

Bright Future Software Ltd

Unleashing Cumbria’s Potential (Cumbria County Council—Programme)

Cygnet Group Ltd

EA Technology Ltd

Turning Discovery Science and Knowledge into Jobs and Growth (GM Local Enterprise Partnership—Programme)

Helical Technology Ltd

Liverpool City Region Small Business Support Fund (Liverpool City Region LEP—Programme)

N Brown Group Plc (Programme)

Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd

Patterson and Rothwell Ltd

Redx Pharma Ltd

Sidcot Investments Ltd

St Helens Jobs and Growth Fund (St Helens Chamber—Programme)

Tratos Ltd

Unilever UK Central Resources Ltd

Catalyst for Growth (University of Chester—Programme)

Vix Technology (UK) Ltd

South West

AgustaWestland Ltd

Atlantic Inertial Systems Ltd

Avanti Communications Group plc

Cooper Tire and Rubber Company Europe Ltd

Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells Ltd (JMFC)

Marine Current Turbines Ltd

GAIN Growth Fund Plus (Plymouth City Council—Programme)

Trackwise Designs Ltd

Innovation for Growth Programme (University of the West of England—Programme)

West Midlands

GBS Mezzanine Funding Programme (Birmingham City Council—Programme)

Coventry and Warwickshire Business Finance (Coventry and Warwickshire LEP—Programme)

The Marches and Worcestershire Redundant Building Grant Programme (Herefordshire Council—Programme)

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

King Automotive Systems Ltd

Malvern Instruments Ltd

NVC Lighting Ltd

Robinson Brothers Ltd

Growing Priority Sectors in the Black Country (Sandwell MBC—Programme)

Innovative Growth in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire (Stoke on Trent City Council—Programme)

Tata Steel UK Ltd

TRW Automotive—College Road

Wade Ceramics Ltd

Worcestershire Expansion Fund (Worcestershire County Council—Programme)

Yorkshire and the Humber

Beatson Clark Ltd

Paull Strategic Employment Site: Capturing Siemens Tier 1 Suppliers (East Riding of Yorkshire Council)

Harrison Spinks Beds Ltd

The enhanced Business Growth Programme (Leeds City Region LEP—Programme)

Developing the UK’s Leading Food Manufacturing Cluster in Greater Lincolnshire (North East Lincolnshire Council—Programme)

Optare Plc

Really Useful Products Ltd

Unlocking (more) Business Investment (Sheffield Council—Programme)

Silkstone Finance Ltd

Centre for Innovation in Rail (University of Huddersfield)

York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Business Grant Programme

Nationwide

Tooling Loan Fund (Birmingham)

Community Development Finance Association

Creative England

Deutsche Leasing UK Ltd

Five Arrows Leasing Group Ltd (FALG)

HSBC

Wave 2 City Deals Growth Hubs

RBS