The Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) Scheme has been a prominent feature of regional policy in Great Britain (GB) for more than 30 years (1972-2004) and has been used as a key ‘product’ in attempting to address the labour market inequalities which have been a persistent feature of the UK regions. RSA continues to operate in Scotland as a national grant scheme administered by the Scottish Executive and is available for capital expenditure projects taking place within Scotland in Tier 1 and Tier 2 Areas, and which will create and/or safeguard jobs. The results reported here are key findings from research carried out by Kingston University, Aston University and the University of Warwick between March 2006 and October 2006 examining the outcomes of funded projects and an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the RSA Scheme in terms of value for money and efficiency. Main Findings ■ Overall, 360 firms/plants in Scotland in the period 2000-04 received an offer of RSA financial assistance totalling £126.6m (average grant of £351,648; median £100,000). ■ Four-fifths of the assisted businesses were UK-owned with the vast majority of these being Scottish-owned firms and/or plants. ■ Scottish-owned businesses received significantly lower levels of financial assistance compared to both foreign-owned businesses and projects from the rest of the UK. This difference in absolute levels of assistance reflects the fact that Scottish- owned businesses are primarily SMEs rather than foreign-owned businesses who are larger multi-national plants. Scottish- owned businesses did however receive a higher proportion of their overall project costs than foreign-owned firms within the aid limit guidelines (18% compared to 10%). ■ Evidence from the survey of 157 RSA-assisted businesses showed that they differed from non-assisted firms in three significant ways: they grew faster than non-recipients both before and after receiving assistance; they are more likely to be undertaking R&D and product and process innovation and they have faster GVA growth. ■ Levels of self-reported deadweight (i.e., wholly non-additional) by RSA-assisted business and/or plants are low with the majority of firms citing some form of partial additionality in terms of either achieving business outcomes more quickly or to a greater extent. Complete additionality occurred in around 29 per cent of cases. ■ Overall, the econometric modelling results of the effects of RSA assistance are broadly supportive of RSA interventions. After controlling for selection bias in the assisted sample, RSA support (2000-04) is positively and significantly related to employment growth in the period 2004-06. ■ RSA financial assistance in Scotland has generated 2,944 net additional jobs and these jobs are increasing total Scottish and UK value added by £59.3m pa. Evaluation of Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) in Scotland: 2000-2004 Mark Hart*, Nigel Driffield**, Stephen Roper*** and Kevin Mole*** *Kingston University **Aston University ***University of Warwick Business and Industry Research Findings No.1/2008