In its response to the government's Regional Growth Fund consultation, which was launched in June, the BPIF welcomed the introduction of the fund as it believes print will benefit.

The BPIF said that it will help manufacturing sectors such as printing that are found in every town and borough and make a "significant contribution to the UK economy nationally".

However, it claims that these sectors often "fall below the radar" in many regions and localities because they are not dominant in the particular geographical area concerned. In order to ensure that the economic development of nationally significant sectors, such as print, is supported alongside local growth, the BPIF has recommended that a sectoral growth fund should be established and administered by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Corporate affairs director Andy Brown said: "Previous sectoral business support programmes funded by the government have already proven their worth as a public investment in terms of the financial return they have brought to sectors and to the wider UK economy.

"A sectoral fund would enable support to be provided to economically important sectors such as printing on a consistent basis throughout the UK, as opposed to the ‘postcode lottery’ that prevails under the RDA-led funding regime, which has left most print companies out in the cold so far as receiving business support funding is concerned."

In its response, the BPIF said it was "disappointed" with the overall amount of funding that will be allocated to the fund.

The nine existing regional development agencies have a budget of around £1.5bn, which is still £800m less than the previous year. The proposed Regional Growth Fund has been allocated just £1bn over two years, which the BPIF regards as a "huge" cut in support funding.