Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the latest briefing from your Voluntary Sector Forum. The briefing is to update you on all the areas and issues the forum has been working through on your behalf. Members of Voluntary Sector Forum Steering Group (representatives of VCS groups from across the borough) continue to lead on work on your behalf – to ensure your interests are represented and fed into local structures and partnerships.
Once again, we have tried to keep this update short and snappy – but if you would like to know more detail about any area covered in the briefing or if you have a topic you think we should feature – then please do click on the links for more information or get in touch with mal@rcvda.org.uk or Telephone 01642 440571
John Pearson, Chair
R&C Voluntary Sector Forum
Tees Valley European Structural & Investment Funds Strategy 2014 – 2020
The Tees Valley European Structural & Investment Funds Strategy (ESIFS) 2014 – 2020 (available on the TVU website) was submitted to Government in January 2014.
It sets out how the TEES VALLEY area will maximise the opportunity presented by an allocation of £173m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), together with an additional £12.59m of EU Youth Employment Initiative funding and £1.1m from the European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development (EAFRD), to support the Tees Valley’s economic growth.
It also demonstrates our ability to manage and deliver the funds. The ESIFS focuses particularly upon innovation, increasing small business competitiveness, the low carbon economy, employment, skills and social inclusion.
The Operational Programme for England is expected to start in late 2014 with European Structural & Investment Funds expected to be available from early 2015.
The information below sets out in more detail the process followed to develop the Social Inclusion Theme within the ESIFS.
WHAT IS THE SOCIAL INCLUSION ELEMENT OF THE FUNDING FOR AND HOW CAN THIS BENEFIT THE VOLUNTARY & COMMUNITY SECTOR?
Social Inclusion is one of the themes identified by the European Union under the next European Structural Funds Programme for 2014 – 2020. It is part of the European Social Fund along with two other themes – Employment and Skills. Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) worked closely with a wide range of partners to develop the ESIFS and held Thematic Task & Finish Groups in August and September, with the two Social Inclusion Groups very well attended by partners. Following on from these Groups, a more focused Social Inclusion Task and Finish Group has been meeting regularly and has led the development of the Social Inclusion Theme, using the results of the Groups in August and September.
The Group is made up of representatives from TVU, the voluntary and community sector, including the Local Development Agencies in the Tees Valley, the Tees Valley Local Authorities and also our local representative from the BIG Lottery. The Group is chaired by Doff Pollard, Chief Officer at the Tees Valley Rural Community Council.
The Group has used its experience to develop the activities under the theme and has also led the discussions on accessing match funding through the BIG Lottery for a proportion of the allocation. Further detail on the activities and the proposal to access match funding from BIG Lottery can be found within the ESIFS. The Group has also undertaken a mapping exercise, and a wide range of organisations in the voluntary and community sector invited to submit information on the types of activities they are currently delivering and plan to deliver in the future. This information will be used to help further inform the activities. There will also be further work to find out what groups are currently delivering and what evidence we can gather to show what really works.
The Group will continue to meet over the coming months in order to discuss the activities, match funding arrangements and also delivery. The Group has had some initial discussions on delivery and has agreed that the themes and activities under Social Inclusion need to be developed in more detail prior to defining the processes for actual delivery of the funds. Theme Development Leads will be appointed and will be tasked with further defining the activities, in consultation with the Task and Finish Group, TVU and BIG Lottery (further detail can be found in the ESIFS).
The Social Inclusion Task & Finish Group recognises the importance of keeping all partners up to date with progress under the Social Inclusion Theme and allowing the wider partnership the opportunity to contribute. The Group will therefore continue to circulate updates to partners.
If you would like further information, please contact Sarah Brackenborough, Tees Valley Unlimited, 01642 524423 or sarah.brackenborough@teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk.
Frequently Asked Questions: TVU has produced a list of FAQs which explain in more detail the role of the Tees Valley in the next round of European Structural & Investment Funds 2014 – 2020. The FAQs can also be found on the TVU website.
What are European Structural & Investment Funds?
The European Structural & Investment Funds 2014 – 2020 have been designed by the European Union (EU) to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and cohesion across different areas of the EU. They bring significant investment into local areas across a range of activities including supporting the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), improving access to finance for SMEs, enhancing innovation capacity, supporting access to employment, developing the skills base and promoting social inclusion.
The funds available to the United Kingdom are:
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF);
The European Social Fund (ESF);
The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD); and
The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
What is the role of LEPs in the European Structural & Investment Funds 2014 – 2020?
The UK Government has set out that Local Enterprise Partnerships (in Tee Valley, the LEP is Tees Valley Unlimited) will play a role in the delivery of the next round of European Structural and Investment Funds for the period 2014 – 2020. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) will receive an allocation of European Structural & Investment Funds for the full seven year programme period. LEPs and their partners will oversee the ongoing strategic development and delivery of the European Structural & Investment Funds, while Government Managing Authorities will undertake the management and administration of the fund. LEPs and their partners were required to submit a European Structural & Investment Funds Strategy (ESIFS) to Government in January 2014, setting out the area’s proposals to utilise the funds. Tees Valley Unlimited submitted the Tees Valley ESIFS (make link to document) to Government in January 2014.
What is a Transition Region?
The Tees Valley has been identified as a Transition Region by the EU for the 2014 – 2020 programme, due to having a GDP per head of between 75 – 90% of the EU average. This means that the Tees Valley will benefit from higher intervention rate levels of up to 60% for the European funds, with a 40% match required. This is compared to intervention rates of 50% in other More Developed Regions in the UK. It also means that the Tees Valley notional allocation is ring-fenced and can only be spent in the Tees Valley area.
How much European Funding has the Tees Valley been notionally allocated?
The Tees Valley has been notionally allocated £173m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), together with an additional £12.59m of EU Youth Employment Initiative funding and £1.1m from the European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development (EAFRD). The Tees Valley ESIFS provides a detailed breakdown of the split of the allocation between the funds.
What is the EU Youth Employment Initiative?
The EU Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) forms part of a package of measures designed to deal with high levels of youth unemployment in many parts of the EU. The funding is to be specifically targeted at regions in which the youth unemployment rate exceeds 25%. The Tees Valley has been identified as an area to receive YEI funds and has been allocated an additional £12.59m. The allocation has to be matched equally from within the Tees Valley ESF allocation, with an additional local match required for the ESF funds. In total the investment for the YEI in Tees Valley is around £33m. The Tees Valley ESIFS sets out high level proposals for the use of the YEI funds in the Tees Valley and these proposals will be developed in more detail with local partners over the coming months.
When will the European Funding be available?
It is expected that the European Funding will be available to spend in early 2015. The UK Government is required to agree the UK Partnership Contract and the Operational Programmes for ERDF, ESF and EAFRD with the European Commission before the funding is available, and it is likely that these negotiations will take place in the second half of 2014.
Are there sources of match funding available?
The European Structural & Investment Funds must be match funded with other sources of funding. Match funding can come from public and private funds however there are strict rules setting out the eligible sources. As part of the development of the ESIFS, TVU and its partners were required to consider likely sources of match funding for the European Funds and there is further work to be done on this as part of the implementation of the strategy. The UK Government offered a series of ‘Opt In Arrangements’ for LEPs to consider during the development of the ESIFS. This will allow LEPs and their partners to join with national organisations/programmes to deliver key priorities. By committing to ‘opt in’ to a service from a national organisation/programme LEPs are required to commit part of its European Funding in return for match funding and administrative support. Details of those that the Tees Valley are proposing to opt in to are included in the ESIFS.
How has the LEP consulted and engaged with local partners?
Tees Valley Unlimited has engaged with a wide range of partners throughout the process of developing the ESIFS. As part of our early preparations, we produced an Interim Prospectus for European Funding 2014 – 2020 in early 2013 and used this as a basis to undertake initial discussions with key partners throughout April and June 2013. This included discussions with local authorities, rural partners, environmental interests, higher education, business representative organisations and civil society.
To ensure that the input of our partners was fully captured in the development of
the priorities for the draft ESIFS, submitted in October 2013, we invited a wide range of partners to attend a series of thematic Task and Finish Groups during August and September 2013. The Task and Finish Groups covered the following themes:
Innovation (Smart Specialisation)
ICT
SME Competitiveness
Low Carbon Economy
Climate Change Adaptation & Environmental Protection
Sustainable Transport
Employment & Skills
Social Inclusion
Place
The draft ESIFS was then published on TVU’s website for public consultation for a month in October/November 2013, with around 30 responses received. Feedback was very positive and TVU responded to the 20 main questions arising from the feedback, mainly on SME competitiveness, the low carbon economy and climate change adaptation, and published these on our website.
In order to respond to Government feedback received in November, TVU held a further round of Thematic Task and Finish Groups with local partners in December. The Groups explored the robustness of outputs, further identifying and validating key priorities, examining match funding opportunities and more clearly linking the evidence of need to the intervention described. We plan to hold further Task and Finish Groups in March 2014 in order to start the development of an implementation plan to deliver the Tees Valley European Structural and Investment Funds Strategy.
The Voluntary Sector forum will provide regular updates of how these activities are progressing and about the opportunities might be for your organisation over the coming months.
