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Row over unspent cash in modernisation fund
Page 7
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THE GOVERNMENT 1, threatening to sour its hard-won relationship with the industry by refusing to say if it will roll-over some 1.50m in unspent funding.
With just over three weeks of the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund left, funding for initiatives like the Logistics Skills Award could be under threat if no further money is forthcoming.
Other RHMF schemes, including one launched only last week, (see page 28), could also suffer.
The 31 March deadline is being rigorously applied, even though it took two, or in some cases, three years to get some of the initiatives up and running.
The lack of decisive action is "appalling", says Pallet line chairman Bob Russett: "We're not asking for new or extra money. We've been fighting to get hold of the money, and now they are dropping the guillotine and asking for it back."
Although the scheme technically has no money left, of the £100m the Chancellor had put aside for the RHMF as much as £60m is still in Treasury coffers because it hasn't been claimed.
Russett says the government should extend the RHMF's deadline "by at least a couple of years''.
The outcome will be known "fairly soon", says Martin Jones, head of freight logistics at the Department for Transport: "We have done the internal reviews and are looking at it now, but it's a decision for ministers to take."