TAKING the Regional Growth Fund quite literally, it is clearly meant to encourage just that – growth in a particular region.

Essentially it’s a huge pot of money, £3.2 billion to be precise, which is supposed to benefit the private sector by giving businesses financial help.

That in turn should benefit the area by creating more jobs and boosting the economy.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has previously boasted that the fund has supported thousands of small businesses to grow and thrive across the country since it was set up in 2010.

Sadly, here in Oxfordshire that hasn’t quite been the case.

As we can reveal today, just two Oxfordshire firms have benefited from the cash.

And they are huge international companies – BMW and Element Six – a global company with its headquarters in Luxembourg.

It has quite rightly caused some concern among other businesses and it’s good to see Andrew Smith MP taking it seriously. He will raise the issue in Parliament today and ask Business Secretary Vince Cable to list the number of applications from each area.

There should be serious questions raised about how the money is being allocated.

One wonders if the Government will be as willing to share that type of information.