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Local Enterprise Growth Initiative

It is always a genuine pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Marshall. I start by saying how pleased I am to have the opportunity to raise the case for Stoke-on-Trent to be granted funding under the local enterprise growth initiative, which is commonly known as LEGI. I am pleased that the Minister is here today because if ever an area needed a leg up and a helping hand, ours does. I intend to flag up the importance of Stoke-on-Trent's proposed bid, which will be made by the local strategic partnership and the city council by 9 December. I appreciate only too well that the funding is competitive and that the Minister will not be able to tell me at the end of the debate that our bid will succeed. However, I know equally well that if it is to be successful, it needs the support of the Government office for the west midlands and of the regional development agency, which is Advantage West Midlands. I make no apology whatever for my twofold purpose in raising this matter. First, I want to prepare the ground for the hurdles that we must overcome regionally and, secondly, assuming that we are successful, I want to ensure that the Government understand fully the scale of the problem facing us in Stoke-on-Trent and the need for a joined-up government approach—that is sometimes elusive—from the Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. I hope that that provides a good background for the decision and that we are successful. I was pleased to hear in the 2005 Budget introduced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor that there would be an extra £50 million of this funding for 2006–07, which I understand is set to rise to £150 million for 2008–09, for the country as a whole. On hearing that, I immediately contacted the relevant bodies in Stoke-on-Trent to ensure that they would be well prepared to make a bid. I have read through the literature, and it is clear that in the first phase funds will stretch to perhaps only one successful bid per region.