The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has announced that companies can now bid for a share of £100 million from a Government scheme to help them strengthen their domestic supply chains and help bring manufacturing back to the UK. The funding will provide research and development support, skills training, investment capital and encourage major new suppliers to ‘reshore’ in the UK. It comes from the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI).
Five previous rounds of AMSCI funding have secured nearly half a billion pounds of public-private investment for 44 projects in the UK.
Business Secretary, Vince Cable said: “A strong manufacturing sector is vital to a balanced economic recovery, and I want to ensure that Britain’s supply chains are up to the task of supporting the sector in the long term. Our industrial strategy, which has given business the confidence to invest, is paying dividends in the reshoring we have seen so far. We will continue to support businesses to secure more highly skilled jobs and a stronger economy.”
Previous recipients of AMSCI funding have included technology for increasing the scale of 3D printing of metals; and reshoring the manufacture of cats’ eyes from overseas to the UK. It has also included the creation of a ‘National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme’ led by the Aerospace Growth Partnership to address skills shortages and improve R&D collaboration in the aerospace sector. The £35 million project aims to create nearly 5,000 jobs in the supply chain.
Terry Scuoler, Chief Executive at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said: “This is another welcome boost for British manufacturing, which will have a positive impact on he wider economy. Our own research shows that in the last three years, one in six companies have re-shored production back to the UK with many turning to a UK-based supply chain for parts and components. High value manufacturing creates jobs and wealth here so I’m delighted to see the Government getting behind it.”
The manufacturing sector supports two and a half million jobs and contributes almost £140 billion a year to the UK.
