A key element of the RDAs remit was to deliver financial support to businesses that generate the UKs wealth, she added, stating that the plethora of schemes previously available had been replaced with a few, focused schemes in response to feedback.
However, while print has been identified as one of five priority clusters for investment by Yorkshire Forward, the same could not be said for other regions with a strong print presence. We are not on the RDA radar in the South West, North West and elsewhere and we should be, said BPIF chief executive Michael Johnson.
Separately, Johnson admitted that the BPIF had not quite been in step with the GPMU over the formation of the Print Education Forum. But we are committed to getting the partnership right. We have been slow to take up that challenge and will be looking at that in the future.
GPMU general secretary Tony Dubbins responded by saying that it was pleasing to move the partnership agenda forward.
The Partnership at Work programme to modernise the National Agreement is slated to begin in November, subject to receiving the necessary funding from the DTI. Southernprint managing director Stephen Clark is expected to represent the employer group.
Story by Jo Francis
