Kevin Foster, the Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Torbay, has welcomed the announcement of £47 million additional funding from the Regional Growth Fund to help businesses grow and create jobs across the South West region.

This brings the total funding for the South West to date from the Regional Growth Fund to £240 million, attracting £0.9 billion of private investment and projecting to support 51,000 jobs.

The Regional Growth Fund stimulates enterprise across the country by providing grants to projects and programmes with significant potential for economic growth, unlocking private sector investment and creating jobs.

The fund is now awarding 63 new projects and programmes across England with a further £297 million of investment. In total, £2.85 billion has now been invested in regional businesses since the launch of the fund in 2010, helping them to expand and create jobs.

Kevin commented:

‘This £47 million of extra money is fantastic news for the region as a whole, with the best part of it being the offer of funding to Spirent Communications Limited based here in the bay, further developing our hi tech industries and putting us on course to be the Silicon Bay.”

‘Each new job this fund supports means another person with the security of a regular pay packet.’

Greg Clark MP, Business Minister, said:

‘The government is supporting local businesses and enterprise across the country, helping them to expand and create long-term, skilled jobs.

‘This latest round of RGF investments will help local firms fulfil their ambitions for growth, encourage businesses to set up bases in the UK and boost jobs and prosperity.’