Local UK businesses receive nearly £300m government grant

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Feb 12, 2015

Local businesses in the UK were today given a £297m grant from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to fuel business expansion. So far, a total of £2.85bn has been given out by The Regional Growth Fund to help companies expand and take on more staff.

The latest £297m grant wil be shared between 63 new projects and programmes across England. The investment is also expected to unlock another £1.5bn of private sector investment, and to create or safeguard thousands of jobs.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "After decades of regional economies being neglected I set about investing directly in local businesses via the Regional Growth Fund. This investment has allowed regional businesses to be more ambitious than ever before and gone a long way in creating a stronger economy."

"A stronger economy means providing equal opportunity for everyone across the UK, rather than solely relying on the city of London to bolster UK business. The success of the RGF is proof that putting money in the hands of local businesses helps them flourish, and creates opportunities for more people to work locally."

So far, the project has created over 100,000 jobs and another 480,000 are expected to be created by 2020.

Among the companies to receive the government grant is Economic Solutions - the delivery body for the National N Brown Textiles Growth Programme. The Textiles Growth Programme was awarded around £19.5m to promote business growth and skills provision, and the investment for the textiles industry will be predominantly focused on businesses in the North West and East Midlands.

In 2013, the Textiles Growth programme received £12.8m from the Regional Growth Fund.