Written Statements
(7 years, 3 months ago)
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Industrial Strategy Consultation
(7 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)
The Government are today publishing a Green Paper: “Building our Industrial Strategy”.
This signals a new and collaborative approach to industrial strategy in the United Kingdom, helping to deliver an economy that works for everyone.
We are working from a position of strength. We have built an open, dynamic and competitive economy since the financial crisis, with a record number of people in work. We have more businesses than ever, industry sectors that are world leading, a strong science and research base, and have seen significant growth.
But there are challenges that the United Kingdom must face up to now and in the years ahead. Specifically we must:
Build on our strengths and extend excellence into the future;
Close the gap between the UK’s most productive companies, industries, places and people and the rest; and
Make the UK one of the most competitive places in the world to start or grow a business.
“Building our Industrial Strategy” sets out our approach to addressing these challenges in order to attain our objective: to improve living standards and economic growth by increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole country.
In order to endure, our strategy should reflect the considerable contribution of a wide group of people and bodies who share our ambitions. That is why this is a Green Paper—a set of proposals for discussion and consideration, and an invitation to others to contribute collaboratively to their development. I have placed copies of the document in the Libraries of the House.
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Local Growth Fund
(7 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Sajid Javid)
In the last Parliament, £7.3 billion of the Local Growth Fund was awarded to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) through the first two rounds of Growth Deals. At Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced the regional breakdown of a further £1.8 billion of the Local Growth Fund. Today I am pleased to announce the individual awards that LEPs in the Northern Powerhouse will receive. LEP Funding Award (£m) North Eastern 49.74 Cumbria 12.66 Tees Valley 21.81 York, North Yorkshire and East Riding 23.68 Lancashire 69.76 Humber 27.94 Leeds City Region 67.45 Liverpool City Region 71.95 Greater Manchester 130.08 Sheffield City Region 37.83 Cheshire and Warrington 43.28
This flexible funding sits alongside £475 million for Local Transport Majors and £2 billion long-term funding for housing transactions through the Home Building Fund. This was the most competitive round yet, and allocations were made based on a bidding round that took place last year. This honours our manifesto pledge to agree an expanded set of deals to empower the towns, cities and counties across the country to fulfil their potential and create an economy that works for all. The expanded deals will provide LEPs in the Northern Powerhouse with the power and funding to support local businesses, unlock housing where it is most needed and develop vital infrastructure to allow places to thrive. The funding will also be used to create jobs, equip a new generation with the skills they need for the future and attract billions of pounds of private sector investment. This investment is Government stepping up, not stepping back, building on our strengths to boost national productivity and growth.
This adds to the £2.9 billion we have already invested in growth deals in the Northern Powerhouse in previous rounds, providing targeted financial support to locally-determined projects in order to unlock growth.
This is part of Government efforts to build a Northern Powerhouse to help the great cities and towns of the North pool their strengths and take on the world. Step by step we are making the Northern Powerhouse a reality with over a million businesses involved, foreign direct investment up by a quarter and 187,000 jobs created in the past year alone.
We will announce the allocations for LEPs in other regions over the coming weeks.
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