Decision

To approve the proposed funding and interventions detailed below to support economic growth within the local economy utilising UK Shared Prosperity Funding:

· £50,000 – Specialist Voucher Scheme Social Enterprise Support [SVSES].
· £40,000 – Access to Regional Specialist Programmes.
· £30,000 – Apprenticeship Support Scheme 19–25-year-olds.
· £20,000 – Export Specialist Voucher Scheme · £10,000 – Start-up Business Revenue Support Scheme
· £18,000 – Enhanced Digital Front Door

Reasons for the decision

North Lincolnshire Council has been allocated funding through our UK Shared Prosperity to support communities and businesses to invest locally. Under the funding, we allocated £240k into the E24 strand. The authority put a call out for projects but was only able to allocate £77k as the remaining bids fell outside the scope. As a result, we are now utilising the unallocated funds in the above manner to ensure we achieve the outputs and outcomes within the wider investment plan and deliver the support into our business community.

Alternative options considered

North Lincolnshire Council offered the funding out as a call scheme for external bidders but failed to receive the appropriate projects. We have engaged with businesses locally to understand their challenges that are restricting growth in the current environment and the proposed funding mitigates a number of those challenges.