Business Finance - DTI backs business.
The European Commission is expected to approve a £250m Labour-backed scheme to encourage business start-ups in English regions which find it hard to attract private funding. The scheme involves using £50m of state funding over three years to attract £200m private venture capital. The scheme, which was halted by the Commission last year pending investigation, is now hoped to be operating by late autumn – more than two years after it was first suggested. Stephen Byers, outgoing head of the DTI, is credited with resolving the dispute with the EC’s competition commissioner Mario Monti.
DTI website is at: www.dti.gov.uk.