By Lucy Phillips
12 May 2011
A £5m start-up fund for Local Enterprise Partnerships was announced by ministers today, along with online help.
Business minister Mark Prisk urged new partnerships between councils and local businesses to bid for the one-off pot of funding. It can be used for items such as office rental, equipment andtraining, he suggested. LEPs that already have these start-up functions in place will not be eligible for the funding.
Bidding is open until the end of June and LEPs will need to demonstrate that they have a plan to become self-sustaining.
The funding follows concerns that many LEPs would not be able to generate enough cash to get off the ground. The partnerships will not receive direct central government funding, unlike their predecessors – regional development agencies.
Prisk said: ‘Today we are moving up a gear in promoting local growth. Over the past ten months, business and civic leaders have risen to the challenge and we now have 33 partnerships in place covering 92% of all businesses in England.’
Prisk added: ‘The package of support opportunities I’ve announced today will help partnerships to translate their ideas and ambition into real action to help businesses in their areas and to unlock growth.’
LEPs can also bid for funding through the government’s Regional Growth Fund, although they must compete against private sector and other public-private partnerships. A second round of bidding for a pot of £950m is currently open.
Ministers have recently approved a pan-Lancashire LEP.
