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RSA is
delivering real results in terms of jobs and capital investment for our
assisted areas.
£24m in RSA will go to 33 business projects generating
over £92m in capital investment.
Around 2,000 jobs are to
be created and safeguarded through the latest round of Regional Selective
Assistance (RSA) funding offers. Deputy Minister for Enterprise Allan Wilson
announced today that £24m in RSA will go to 33 business projects generating
over £92m in capital investment.
Strong support for the manufacturing industry is apparent in this round with
£13.7m going to various companies in the sector.
Mr Wilson said:
“RSA is delivering real results in terms of jobs and capital investment for
our assisted areas.
“I’m pleased this quarter to see the manufacturing industry benefit from
significant investment with over 1,000 manufacturing jobs being created or
safeguarded.
“As with other major industrialised economies, the manufacturing sector has
experienced challenges over the past 30 years but it remains an integral
part of the Scottish economy, accounting for around one fifth of our GDP.
These RSA offers demonstrate our commitment to help drive forward this
increasingly modern and dynamic sector.
“RSA is helping Scottish companies such as Advanced Tool Manufacture Ltd and
Bonspiel Engineering Ltd progress with tooling and components manufacturing
projects which will create and safeguard 44 jobs – this is good news for the
manufacturing sector and good news for our economy.”
Chief Executive of Scottish Engineering Dr Peter Hughes said:
“The Scottish Engineering Manufacturing Sector is pleased to acknowledge the
tremendous support from the Scottish Executive via the RSA programme.
“The positive support of RSA has made a significant contribution to
encouraging companies to proceed with investments, which will show real
benefits not only in terms of jobs created or safeguarded, but with better
opportunities to win more business in the ever competitive global
marketplace.”
The largest RSA offer from this round was £10m to UPM-Kymmene (UK) Ltd to
safeguard 360 jobs. This offer was announced in December 2006. The grant
offers of £1m to Shell Shared Service Centre Glasgow Ltd, £1.2m to Cellartis
AB and of £3m to JP Morgan have also been previously announced and will
result in the creation of 375 new jobs.
NOTES:
1. Today’s full quarterly report with details on grant offers accepted can
be found on the RSA Scotland web page at www.rsascotland.gov.uk.
2. Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is the main national scheme of
financial assistance to industry. It provides discretionary grants for
investment projects that will create or safeguard jobs in Assisted Areas –
areas designated for regional aid under European Community law. The scheme
is administered by the Innovation and Investment Grants (IIG) unit of the
Scottish Executive.
3. Payments of RSA are made in instalments, typically over several years,
provided that job and project expenditure targets are met.
4. The amounts quoted here and in the report therefore represent the maximum
grant potentially payable if the project is satisfactorily completed, and
not the amount actually paid to date.
5. All job numbers are based on firms’ forecast figures at the time a grant
is offered, and are subject to change depending on future economic
conditions and other factors affecting the business concerned.
6. The EC approved the Assisted Areas map for the UK for the period
2007-2013 in December 2006. Scottish coverage has been reduced in line with
the rest of the UK. The map for Scotland (with Highlands and Islands already
guaranteed higher intensity cover until 2010) means population coverage of
37 percent, which reflects relative economic performance. The AA map details
can be found at
www.stateaidscotland.gov.uk
7. Almost 500 CAS (Census Area Statistic) wards in 27 local authority areas
(outwith Highlands and Islands and the new AA coverage areas) are now
eligible for a new support scheme for SMEs offering an RSA-type grant. These
include all wards which lost AA coverage from the 2000-2006 map. The SME RSA
coverage map and detail of wards can be found at
www.stateaidscotland.gov.uk
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