The Regional Growth Fund

HC 17, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Session 2012-13

Author:

National Audit Office (NAO)

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

Price: £16.00

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'The Regional Growth Fund (HC 17)' reports on the Government fund to support private sector jobs and growth in places that rely on the public sector.

The Regional Growth Fund finds that the initial £1.4 billion investment could result in 41,000 more full-time-equivalent private sector jobs in the economy. However, there was scope to have generated more jobs relative to the amount of grant awarded.

The NAO finds that the Fund has not optimised value for money, due to a significant proportion of the funds being allocated to projects that offer relatively few jobs for the money invested.

The report concludes that thousands more jobs from the same resources could have been created, if tighter controls had been applied over the value for money offered by individual bids. Rigorous evaluation will be required to quantify precisely the Fund's overall employment impact.

More than two thirds (28,000) of the 41,000 additional jobs are expected to be delivered indirectly, for example through knock-on effects in companies' supply chains or the wider economy. The average project will last at least seven years, but it is not clear how much of the Fund's boost to the private sector will be sustained in the longer term.

It has taken longer than expected to turn conditional offers of grants for projects into final offers. Therefore, despite the Government's intention to get projects up and running quickly, only around a third have so far received final offers of funding.

Extent	36 pages	ISBN	9780102977097
Size	A4	Price	£16.00
Format	Paperback	Published	11 May 2012
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges