Am I the only one who has seen this http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/Agency-struggles-to-give-away.6002573.jp? EEDA is one quango too many and when they can't even give away £12 million you know they are doing something wrong. Surely there are loads of worthy businesses in Bury St Edmunds just clamoring for the money? Is it just a communication issue? I imagine the average person hasn't event heard of EEDA let alone be able to tell you what they do. More info here: http://www.eeda.org.uk/finance

Alas it's the regional aid rules: so many strings attached, so much monitoring and compliance, the requirement for matched funding. And if you get a grant it screws up R&D tax credits. I looked into it and it just wasn't worth applying. Most of these rules are DBERR (or whatever Lord Mandelson's department is now called).

Don't blame the EEDA, I bet they aren't to blame. But yes, the whole thing should be shut down and the cash saved used to bring down the deficit (remember, that £12m is borrowed, and we tax payers will have to pay it back with interest).