Ministerial Response
The Minister has considered the report carefully and accepted its key recommendations, including the overall conclusion that RSA is a worthwhile and necessary scheme but that it needs some change in emphasis, specifically in relation to support for Scottish firms. In particular the Minister considers that the scheme needs to be re-shaped to deliver:
more focus on growing Scottish firms
and
more focus on, and support for, quality projects
and that this will be achieved by:
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more joined-up delivery
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streamlining: faster simpler processes
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more and better information to Scottish firms
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more support for RD&T and commercialisation projects
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accepting more risk in aiding high-tech projects
Work has already started on:
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More joined-up delivery
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The Department and Scottish Enterprise will aim to provide to local applicants for RSA, the type of coherent, joined-up service which was more usually offered to inward investors.
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For larger cases, involving larger numbers of jobs, the grant will be conditional on applicants working with LECs to ensure that they have appropriate training and workforce development plans in place.
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To complement the New Deal initiative, potential RSA applicants will be offered a premium rate of grant to recruit and retain New Dealers.
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Streamlining: faster simpler processes
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Building on the success of Invest for Growth, further streamlining the processing of applications. The aim is to radically reduce the time for decision for grants under ¿250k - currently 86% of all applicants - mainly smaller, growing Scottish firms.
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For grants of up to ¿50k, the plan is to reduce from 21 to 10 working days.
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For grants of up to ¿250k, the aim is to get this down to 20 working days - a reduction of 20 days on the current target for grants of between ¿100k and ¿250k.
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More and better information to Scottish firms
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Taking professional advice on how best to target and inform firms about RSA
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Holding meetings with potential applicants, giving clear information on eligibility; sectoral restrictions; expected levels of grant etc
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More support for RD&T and commercialisation projects
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Companies will be able to include in their eligible project capital expenditure, the acquisition of intangible assets such as know-how, patents and other intellectual property.
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The Department will do more to assist high quality projects where traditional capital investment may be limited, through taking account of salary costs in determining the level of grants.
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Accepting more risk in aiding high-tech projects
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The Department will accept a greater degree of risk to public funds in its assessment of applications involving university spinouts, high-tech start-ups and other knowledge-intensive activities, including research and development.
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We are giving further consideration to how we might address the risk issue.
February 2002
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