Small businesses in deprived areas are set to benefit from two separate cash injections announced by the government today.

The government’s Small Business Service (SBS) said that it will expand its City Growth Strategies (CGS) to ten additional urban areas, following a successful pilot period.

The multi-million pound initiative will help revitalise deprived areas, making them prime locations for new businesses.

In a separate move, Nigel Griffiths, the small business minister, announced that business support organisations in run-down areas will now receive financial help for course fees and learning materials.

From 1 April, £1 million will be available for Phoenix Bursaries, a new scheme which will contribute 75 per cent of the money needed for developing individual staff skills or boosting an organisation as a whole.

The bursaries will provide a maximum of £10,000 for a business and up to £3,000 for an individual. The money will be used for course fees, books, videos, software and other learning materials, including the care costs involved.

The government hopes both schemes will help entrepreneurs in disadvantage areas, who often find it difficult to raise funding and keep a business afloat, go it alone.

Martin Wyn Griffith, chief executive of the SBS, welcomed the expansion of the CGS scheme into three areas of London as well as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Derby, Leicester, Luton and Portsmouth.

“It is a shift away from defining the task of regeneration in terms of reducing poverty, but much more positively, in terms of creating economic advantage and opportunity.

“With its focus on a business-led, market-driven approach, CGS will tap into the potential of businesses of all sizes to really make a difference at the local level.

“Even the most deprived areas can prosper if they have a strong business population and role models creating wealth and employment,” he said.

Nigel Griffiths said that the Phoenix Bursaries are an important addition to the range of support available to promote more enterprise in disadvantaged areas.

“The bursaries will provide a helping hand, enabling organisations to undertake vital development activities that they would be otherwise unable to afford and make a very real difference to the support they can give their clients,” he said.

To find out more about the schemes, go to www.dti.gov.uk