South East

The South East will benefit from schemes announced in the Spending Review:

Growth

the creation of a UK-wide Green Investment Bank that will be funded by a £1 billion spending allocation and additional proceeds from the sale of Government-owned assets. The bank will encourage significant additional investment in green infrastructure;
the £1.4 billion Regional Growth Fund will support projects with significant prospects for sustainable private sector growth and provide support for people in areas which are currently dependent on the public sector;
Tax increment financing will enable local authorities including those in the South East, to borrow against locally raised business rates; and
Capital investment programmes in the South East will concentrate new investment on infrastructure underpinning economic growth, and maintaining existing public assets:
- £37m upgrade of Pirbright Laboratory, Guildford which researches diseases such as foot and mouth and bluetongue viruses, helping to safeguard UK livestock industries worth £8 billion per year.
- £69 million to support phase 3 of the Diamond Synchotron project in Oxfordshire to support ground breaking research into life, physical and environmental science
- a £248 million refurbishment and new build for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals, to modernise local health services in the area

Funding the increase in participation in education and training, benefiting 5.8 per cent of 16-18 year olds in the South East that are not in Education, Employment or Training;
uprating of the Basic State Pension (BSP) by the highest of earning, prices or 2.5 per cent, from April 2011, benefiting around 1.6 million people in the South East; and
above indexation increases in the child tax credit, funded by savings from restricting child benefit entitlement for households with a high rate taxpayer, potentially benefiting over 430,000 families in the South East.

a settlement for local government that radically increases local authorities’ freedom to manage their budgets, resulting in greater control over £7 billion of grants; and
Community budgets will be run in 16 local areas, including Kent, from April 2011 for families with complex needs, to help improve outcomes, and reduce duplication and waste.

The Spending Review builds on the foundations for sustainable, balanced, private sector-led recovery set out in the Chancellor’s June Budget. The Budget announced a number of initiatives which will help build an economy that works for the South East.