, business planning, manufacturing and services
systems, and the government has sometimes contributed up to two-thirds of the costs aslong as a firm has fewer than 500 employees.
More recently, further support has become available through agencies such as English
Partnerships, the RDAs and the Learning and Skills Council as well as through the
Regional Venture Capital Funds and the long-standing Small Firms Loan Guarantee
Scheme (see below). In addition to any funding provided by the national government,
businesses in the member states of the European Union can also benefit from grant aid
agreed under European programmes which have been designed to tackle national and
regional disparities with the EU