Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to increase textile manufacturing in the UK.

Companies in the textiles manufacturing sector can access help and advice to grow their business through ‘GREAT” www.greatbusiness.gov.uk or www.gov.uk : eligible businesses can gain support in areas such as starting, running, funding, staffing and expanding a business.

BIS has provided targeted support to the textiles sector in a number of ways. Firstly, £12.8 million has been made available from the Regional Growth Fund to support the Textiles Growth Programme, which is focused on creating and safeguarding 1,020 jobs in textiles by supporting capital projects, skills training and research and development in the North of England.

Growth Deals will allow Local Enterprise Partnerships with a textiles manufacturing presence in their regions to prioritise the financial support available (£2bn a year for 6 years from 2015/16 to 2020/2) for proposals that target this sector.

The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) provides grants and loans to successful projects demonstrating real ambition to create globally competitive supply chains. £3.9m of AMSCI funding has been awarded to C & J Antich Ltd to pioneer a technique for weaving Aluminium Dioxide thread into 3D shapes to form the basis for the production of ‘reinforced aluminium’.

Additional funding of £100 million for AMSCI 2014 was announced in April. The new round is open to applications from all organisations operating as part of a manufacturing supply chain including textile manufacturers.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) offers expert advice and grant support to eligible manufacturing companies throughout England. MAS delivers a range of support to manufacturing companies; including those in the textiles sector; ranging from company specific diagnostics, workforce up skilling and grant funding for specific projects to achieve the company’s growth ambitions. Since January 2012 MAS have supported 334 companies in the textiles and leather sector to deliver 417 company specific projects, a further 109 projects are due for completion this financial year. 1521 business diagnostics have been undertaken with companies in the textiles and leather sector.

As part of the Sector Mentoring Fund, Manchester Economic Solutions Ltd was awarded £77,500 in January to deliver Mentor Tex, which is a textile sector mentoring programme concentrated in key textiles regions such as Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The scheme has attracted interest from a wide range of textiles businesses, with 32 mentees and 13 mentors already signed up and other in the pipeline. To date 12 mentoring relationships are already in place and we expect to meet project targets by the end of the summer.

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) can also help the domestic supply chain for textiles exploit opportunities for exporting into new markets overseas. We are also helping raise skills levels through an unprecedented focus on vocational training, including Higher Level Apprenticeships which will provide for higher level skills and beyond into postgraduate level and professional qualifications.

Finally, the textiles sector, particularly technical textiles, continues to have access to opportunities for technology transfer and the exchange of knowledge provided by the Knowledge Transfer Network.