UK Companies Could Miss Out On Government Funds

Edited by the Printingtalk editorial team Oct 11, 2005

Hundreds of small businesses in the UK printing industry could face losing out on future funding grants because of changes introduced by the government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Hundreds of small businesses in the UK printing industry could face losing out on future funding grants because of changes introduced by the government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to its allocation of resources and funding.

To address that, Picon has joined forces with a number of trade associations from a variety of industry sectors, to form The Sponsors Alliance, which aims to lobby the government on the issue of funding for participation in overseas trade fairs.

Under the proposed changes, government funding, which has already been reduced from the previous figure of £22 million to £10 million going forward, will no longer be channelled through the industry trade associations, which, Picon said, have the knowledge and understanding of their specific industries.

In future, the decision whether or not to allocate funding support, will be delegated to regional sectors of the UK Trade and Investment (UKT and I).

The regionalisation of the funding application will not only dilute the understanding of issues affecting the printing industry but will also significantly complicate the process for nationwide organisations, believes Picon.

In Picon's opinion, the changes will also see funds that were previously used to support UK trade development overseas, diverted to attract inward foreign investment in to the UK, posing direct competition to UK companies.

Paul Evans, the business development manager at Picon, said: "Acting as industry representative bodies, we believe it is the trade associations that are best placed to promote our industry sectors and to manage appropriate funding applications.

Trade development must be managed nationally and with sector expertise, so we are once again having to fight to retain a nationally run and properly funded trade fair scheme.

We're urging companies to sign the e-petition to object to the reduction and re-direction of funds." Anyone interested in learning more about the campaign and signing the petition, can access the information at the campaign's website - www.sponsorsalliance.net - added Picon.