Cautious welcome for finance schemes: There has been a cautious welcome to a series of government measures designed to boost growth, including a £40bn “credit easing” scheme, a £1bn business-finance partnership and an extra £1bn allocated to the Regional Growth Fund. The credit easing programme will make £20bn available to small businesses over the next two years under a National Loan Guarantee Scheme, and an additional £1bn to mid-sized companies under a Business Finance Partnership. Companies with an annual turnover of less than £50m qualify for the first of the two schemes. More from Insider Media…
Contract wins for Genius: Bristol-based Genius Consultancy has revealed it has won contract wins worth more than £250,000. The contracts the digital recruitment agency has secured are with organisations including the Bishop Fleming accountancy firm, Digby Morgan Global HR, Hanover Fox International, Westminster Drug Project, Lafarge Plasterboard and St Mungo’s – the homeless charity. More from Insider Media…
News in brief
Bristol 2050 vision unveiled: John Savage CBE (Executive Chairman of Business West), will present the main findings from the Bristol2050 book which has brought together a vision from business leaders for Bristol’s future. Since 2009, Business West has been leading the development of an ambitious project designed to guide the future growth of the West of England city-region. The purpose of Bristol 2050 is therefore to start a debate, raise aspirations and illustrate the benefits of long term strategic thinking. The launch of ‘High in Hope’, a book presenting the main ideas generated through the Bristol 2050 project, will be on December 7 at The Lounge, Leigh Court.
Bristol students accepted onto the first intake of Lloyds Scholars: Fifteen students from Bristol University have been accepted onto the Lloyds Scholars Programme, which is a new initiative designed to support and encourage students from below average income families to study at leading universities. Bristol joins Sheffield University for the pilot year of the scheme, which starts this autumn and was launched in London last night [28 November], aiming to help the students enhance their academic qualifications through providing financial support, mentoring and volunteering opportunities. The successful 15 students went through a challenging assessment centre and had to meet a number of criteria to be accepted onto the programme. In return they will receive bursaries and performance-related awards worth up to £10,000 over three years, plus work experience and skills to help them develop a competitive employable edge at the end of their studies.
I never really got the whole "Bristol 2050" thing, it seems like a hobby project of some local businessmen. It mostly lacks vision, and where it does not it falls flat on deliverability, and often its documents read more like a collection of regional spatial strategy documents from various sources (not to say that they aren't ineresting). The website is unimaginative and not up-to-date, and the PDFs on their website have 'Conservative Party Manifesto' as the title…