Supply chain development gets £7 million government funding
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The Government is funding the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) with an extra £7 million to specifically focus on supply chain development.
The £7 million identified for supply chain support will focus on key supply chain opportunities including areas such as low carbon vehicles, nuclear and off-shore wind sectors.
This is in addition to the £50 million, already announced for the delivery of MAS over the next three years. The reformed MAS will be available from 1 January 2012, three months earlier than originally planned. The new service builds on the current expert support and will aid manufacturing growth by enabling increased productivity and innovation.
The Manufacturing Advisory Service is currently delivered in England by the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). Similar programmes to assist manufacturing are operated in Scotland and Wales. The Government announced in October 2011 that MAS would continue to be delivered following the closure of the RDAs from March 2012.
To ensure consistency of coverage across England MAS will provided through a single national contract but will continue to be delivered at a local level to meet the needs of individual companies and the local economic environment. The national provider of the service will be identified through a procurement exercise following the OJEU process.
