SC21072 Equity Services

Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest local authority in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over £1bn on goods and services and a population of 1.6m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with the NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, 12 district councils, and 289 parish/town councils. The Council consists of four directorates: -Adult Social Core and Health -Children, Young People and Education -Growth, Environment and Transport -Strategic and Corporate Services This service is being commissioned on behalf of the Growth, Environment and Transport directorate. This activity supports Kent County Council's Interim Strategic Plan by helping to deliver the Kent and Medway Economic Renewal and Resilience Plan, more specifically delivering essential support for local businesses. KCC has taken equity stakes in a number of companies via investments from the former Regional Growth Fund (RGF) schemes (Expansion East Kent, Tiger and Escalate), the Kent and Medway Business Fund and the SELEP funded Innovation Investment Scheme, known as Bespoke Equity Fund (BEF) portfolio and is seeking to procure a delivery partner to support, advise and assist these companies, with a £70,000 excluding vat gross per annum budget funded by KCC for the financial period until March 2024.