Food group facing slim time for state funding

The organisation behind the Deliciouslyorkshire brand has been told its Government funding will finish at the end of the current financial year.

The cut means the Regional Food Group will have to go self-supporting a year earlier than planned, with possible consequences for staff jobs and for its promotional activity on behalf of 650 small businesses in the region.

Chief executive Jonathan Knight said the organisation had built up a lot of self-financing business and could get more but not quickly enough to make up for the loss of half its revenue in six months' time.

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It was putting together a bid for funding from the Regional Growth Fund – a Government-administered emergency pot of savings from regional development funding – and was talking to the various partnerships being set up to fight for Yorkshire's needs.

Meanwhile, he said, it would be business as usual but 26 staff had been warned that hard decisions might be necessary in the New Year.

Mr Knight appealed to Yorkshire food businesses to support the group's work, by becoming members – for 100 a year for start-ups, 300 for full membership – and by using its services for product development, marketing and compliance with legal requirements.

He said Yorkshire Forward supported other projects which gave less value but had been forced by the Treasury to cut any contracts which were not legally binding.

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Thea Stein, chief executive of Yorkshire Forward, said: "This decision is part of the wider savings we've been asked to make by the Government and is no reflection on the work of Deliciouslyorkshire, which has had great success promoting the Yorkshire and Humber food industry."

More than 100 arts organisations could lose their funding under plans announced by Arts Council England.

A spokesman for ACE, which saw its annual grant cut by 100 million in the spending review, said groups that currently get support will have to reapply under a new system.

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