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<p>The Government's economic policy objective is to achieve 'strong, sustainable and
balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries.'
The economy is growing and unemployment falling in all regions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>To date significant progress has been made to achieve this. This includes:</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· Industrial strategy, through which the whole of government
is working in partnership with industry to set the long term direction needed to give
business the confidence to invest. Industrial strategy has already helped to create
jobs and encourage significant investment by industry. Notable examples include the
announcements by Siemens and the UK’s Associated British Ports to invest a total of
£310m in wind turbine factories in Hull and across the UK creating over 1,000 jobs
and Balfour Beatty to spend a record £1bn in 2014 on contracts with SMEs across the
country.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· Growth Deals. These are a crucial part of
the Government’s long term economic plan to secure a better future and stronger economy
for our country. The first £6bn of local projects agreed under the first wave of Growth
Deals were announced in July 2014. This includes £74.1million invested in the Coventry
and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership area, which will help to create at least
1,000 jobs and allow up to 1,000 homes to be built. It will also generate up to £30million
in public and private investment</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· Finally, the Regional
Growth Fund which is a competitive £3.2 billion government fund operating across England
to provide grants to private sector projects and programmes with significant potential
for economic growth and support particular areas and communities that are currently
dependent on the public sector for employment. To date £2.9 billion has been allocated
across England with over £1 billion going to projects and programmes in the north
and £670 million to nationwide programmes. These investments have in turn generated
£2.4 billion of private investment with a further £13.6 billion to follow over the
next ten years.</p><p> </p>
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