|
|
| |
EFN Coordinates Sector-Wide
Response on European Structural Funds
|
Speaking at an event on proposals for the next round
of European Structural Funds, our Chief Executive Sir Stuart Etherington
today called for a greater role for civil society organisations.
Civil society organisations are a key partner in the delivery of
EU Structural Funds - approximately £430 million has been
allocated to civil society organisations from the European Social
Fund (ESF) alone over the last three years, representing a major
opportunity for the sector.
The European Commission and Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills (BIS) are currently consulting on the new round of European
Structural Funds for the next programme 2014-2020.
Key opportunities from the new proposals include:
Developing initiatives with smaller grants to enable easier access
for civil society
More local community-led approaches that use EU funds according
to local needs
Identifying innovative ways to match EU grants, including volunteer
time and social finance
Sir Stuart Etherington said:
"As we prepare for the future of Structural Funds programmes,
we need to be creative about how civil society organisations can
play a greater role. These funds should not be locked into unwieldy
contracts and should provide opportunities for organisations of
all sizes.
"NCVO looks forward to working closely with BIS on the development
of forward plans."
Today's event, Back to the Future: Civil Society Engagement in Structural
Funds, brought together over 100 civil society organisations to
discuss directly with the European Commission, European Parliament,
BIS, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG) and other key stakeholders on what the
key priorities should be for civil society.
The Commission’s proposals, which cover all four funds (European
Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund, European Agricultural
Fund for Rural Development, and European Maritime and Fisheries
Fund), are still up for negotiation, so NCVO is encouraging as many
organisations as possible to get in touch to generate greater opportunities
for civil society.
For presentations from the event, please visit our events
page.
|
|
Latest News
| Support Poverty Reduction in new round of ESF |
|
The Campaign “EU Money for Poverty
Reduction NOW” has been launched by 14 Social NGO’s to
secure
· -The allocation of at least 25% of the Cohesion Policy
budget to the European Social Fund (ESF);
· -The earmarking of at least 20% of the ESF to social inclusion
and poverty reduction.
Alongside initiatives at EU and national levels carried out by
the NGOs involved, this campaign aims at gathering as much support
as possible through an online petition
which can be signed here.
|
|
| UK publishes National Reform Programme |
|
| As part of the European
Semester, every year member states submit their National Reform
programme to the Commission with their action plans for growth in
line with EU2020
targets. The UK submitted its 2012 National Reform Programme on
30 April 2012 and sets out the following
- the Office for Budget Responsibility’s 'Economic and fiscal
outlook’
- the five recommendations addressed to the UK by the June 2011
European Council
- action taken by the Government to address these challenges,
including announcements made at Budget 2012, the Autumn Statement
2011 and updates on announcements made at Budget 2011 and the
Plan for Growth; and
- the UK’s approach to national monitoring in line with the five
headline European targets agreed by the European Council in June
2010.
More information and the report itself can be found of the HM
Treasury Website.
For the next step of the European Semester, the European Commission
will review the National Reform Programmes of each member state and
will respond with country-specific recommendations. These are likely
to be adopted in the European Council in June. |
|
| European Code of Conduct on Partnership |
|
| The role of partnership (with other
organisations and bodies – regional and local authorities, civil
society, economic and social partners) is seen as an important element
of managing EU funds. It is acknowledged that they should be actively
and closely involved throughout the whole programme cycle — in the
preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the funds.
The European Commission has published a Staff Working
Document intended to help Member States to shape their partnerships
ready for the adoption of the funds. There is no official consultation
but anyone can send comments and contributions by email to empl-eccp@ec.europa.eu.
Your responses will feed into the European Code of Conduct on Partnership
(ECCP) which will be adopted as soon as the Common provision regulation
enters into force.
For direct references to best practices in the UK, please see pages
6 and 15 of the staff working document where the Technical Assistance
programme on ERDF in Merseyside is cited and the Evaluation Sub-Committee
of the ESF Programme Monitoring Committee for England which is actively
involved in debating and providing feedback on the evaluating projects.
The EFN is the voluntary sector representative on this committee.
To find out more, please see the Commission’s staff working document
on the partnership principle in the implementation of the Common
Strategic Framework Funds - elements for a European Code of Conduct
on Partnership or visit the European Commission’s ESF
Website pages. |
|
| EY2010 - EU Year for Combating Poverty and Social Inclusion - How successful was it? |
|
The European Commission has adopted a report on the implementation and results of the European Year for Combating that took place in 2010 across all EU member states and Iceland and Norway.
It describes the range of activities that were held, along with the overall assessment of the successes and barriers
experienced by those involved. The report also presents follow-up actions to take place, including the development of
specific national targets for reducing poverty and social exclusion as part of the Europe 2020 strategy.
EFN, in partnership with CEFET and EAPN (with support from DWP), arranged a series of regional events that were held
in places such as Merseyside, Nottingham, Weston-Super-Mare, Woking and London to raise awareness of the EY2010 and
to explore ways the European Social Fund could be used to tackle poverty.
The challenge now is to keep up the momentum that the EY2010 started on tackling poverty and promoting social inclusion.
There is currently a 20% minimum of the ESF allocation for the period 2014-2020 ringfenced specifically for social
inclusion and anti-poverty measures.
EFN will continue to support combatting poverty and social exclusion as key priorities for civil society in the next
round of funds.
|
|
| State Aids in ESF - a reminder of the rules |
|
Under the Structural funds, any money paid out may constitute a state aid. Currently state aid issues in ESF
are dealt with through providing what is termed 'de minimis' aid. This enables an enterprise to receive up to
200,000 euros in aid over a three-year rolling period with no requirement to notify it to the Commission. When
this is the case, the Managing Authority requires the aided enterprise to keep detailed records of any de minimus
aid received for 10 years.
Priorities 1 and 3 of the ESF are not in the scope for State Aid rules, however priorities 2 and 4 which provide
support to individuals in employment may have implications because their employers are receiving support towards
the costs of training.
The Managing Authority has issued an action note to remind ESF providers and organisations using the de minimis rules, to put in place a monitoring system to ensure the limit is not breached.
Typically, such a monitoring system will involve:
-
asking enterprises receiving support under their scheme to identify all other sources of support that they have received in the last three years;
-
checking if previous de minimis aid is involved, to ensure that the combined assistance does not exceed €200,000 over any three-year rolling period.
The ESF providers should also write to each recipient to remind them that
-
any de minimis aid granted over 200,00 euros may be subject to repayment with interest
-
they should declare any 'de minimis'aid received
-
make this information available for the next three years.
Full details can be found in Manual 2 of the ESF Guidance
|
|
| ERDF inquiry and call for evidence |
|
The House of Commons DCLG Select Committee
has launched an inquiry and a call for evidence into the European
Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The details can be accessed from
the Committee
website.
The committee has suggested the questions to be addressed, they include:
· How, and on what, is ERDF spent?
· Is the taxpayer in England obtaining value for money from the ERDF?
Could the funds contributed to, and paid out on, regeneration through ERDF be spent more effectively by repatriating ERDF to the Government in London?
With the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies responsibility for ERDF in England passes to DCLG. What effects are these changes having on the administration, assessment and payment of ERDF?
Deadline: 4pm on Thursday, 12 April 2012.
Submissions should be sent by e-mail to clgev@parliament.uk and marked "ERDF".
|
|
| Programme Records 1994-1999 |
|
For partners and providers who still
have documentation (hard copy and electronic) relating to the 1994-1999
ESF programme period, these can now be destroyed.
However, this does not apply to the 2000-2006 documents, all documents
relating to 2000-2006 period still need to be retained.
For further information, please contact your managing authority,
see here for details.
Action
Note 072 - 94-99 Destruction Date
Action
Note 074 - Retention ESF Documents |
|
| Gender Equality and ESF |
|
| On average, women in Europe earn 17.5%
less than men during their lifetime. The ESF has already made important
contributions to improving the situation of women in the labour market
but there is now a specific plan of action to get 51% of the participants
to be female for the second half of the current programme. Co-financing
Organisations (CFO's) have been asked to complete a review by the
end of March and consider what more can be done to promote more women
taking part in future bidding programmes. View the good-practice guide
on ESF Gender Equality here.
The new proposed ESF regulations include equality between women and
men and combating discrimination based on sex as two of the eighteen
investment priorities. |
|
| Social Security Justice |
|
|
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith has launched a Social Justice Strategy which sets out the Government's strategy to provide support to individuals and families facing multiple disadvantages. It refers to ESF support worth £200 million to help troubled families into work. One of the case studies in the strategy is Recycling Lives which won an ESF sustainable development mainstreaming award in 2011. Read here for more details.
|
|
| Cohesion Policy: investment priorities post 2013 |
|
|
As part of the preparation for future Cohesion policy post 2013,
the European Commission has published a Common Strategic Framework
(CSF) in the form of a working document for the structural funds
(the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund,
the Cohesion Fund) and for the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
The Common Strategic Framework sets out how the funds should work
together to set clear investment priorities for the next period
post 2013. It aims to increase coherence between the EU2020 priorities
and implementation of the funds, and will help member states plan
their strategic actions in particular when drawing up their Partnership
Contracts with the Commission.
The Commission are welcoming comments by the EU institutions. The
CSF will be adopted in final form only once the legislative package
on Cohesion Policy Funds is formally adopted.
For more information, visit the Commission website
|
|
| DWP Work Programme Statistics |
|
Statistics have been released covering the first five months of the Work Programme,
from June-October 2011 by the Department of Work and Pensions showing that the total
number of referrals is 370,000 and the total number of attachments is 332,000. The
Work Programme is designed to help people into employment, with providers being paid
for putting and keeping people into jobs. Part of the Work Programme will be used as
match funding to DWP ESF Provision and £66m worth of ESF will fund people on Incapacity
Benefit (IB) and Income Support (IS) from group 8 who can volunteer to the WP. DWP
revised estimates published in November 2011 indicate that between June 2011 to 2014
30,000 IB/IS participants should be helped by the ESF against the original estimate of
44,200 (a decrease of 32%). To June 2011 1,080 IB/IS referred to the Work Programme
and of these 960 engaged with the provider. For more information, see the DWP website
here.
|
|
| European Social Fund Community Grants
Programme - 2011 - 2013 |
|
The Community Grants Programme offers
grants of up to £12,000 to voluntary and community sector groups
undertaking activities including help with basic skills, work experience,
training advice and guidance, job search assistance, confidence building,
personal development and support to overcome barriers to training
and employment.
The Grant Co-ordinating bodies across England for the second half
of the programme have now been appointed. For contact details and
call for proposals deadlines see the Funding
Page.
|
|
| The Skills Funding Agency's new Register
of Training Organisations |
|
| In order to be considered for funding
by the Skills Funding Agency to deliver education and training services
in England, including those funded by the European Social Fund you
must register your organisation on The Register of Training Organisations
if you have an existing funding agreement with the Agency; if you
want to be selected to be invited to tender for education and training
provision being commissioned by the Skills Funding Agency from 1 April
2012; if you are a subcontractor holding contracts with an aggregate
value of £500,000 or above per annum. It will remain open for
new registrations until 5pm on Friday 17 February 2012. Further dates
for registration will be announced during 2012. The online questionnaire
can be found at the Skills Funding Agency’s e-tendering portal
https://skillsfundingagency.bravosolution.co.uk/
|
|
| House of Lords high level seminar
on European Social Fund 2014-2020 |
|
Following on from House of Lords Select
Committee on the European Union- Inquiry into the European Social
Fund and the report published in 2010 ‘Making it work: the European
Social Fund’, a high level seminar was held in December. It
focused on issues arising from the report and considered the draft
legislative proposals for ESF 2012-2020. Presentations and script
from the event are available here:
click
here . . . |
|
| Development of Cohesion Policy 2014-20
Timetable |
|
Following from Europe 2020, the EU high
level economic strategy, the European Commission published the legislative
package for EU regional, employment and social policy 2014-20 in October
2011. It includes a general regulation for ESF, ERDF, Cohesion Fund,
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European
Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) as well as Fund Specific Regulations.
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/what/future/proposals_2014_2020_en.cfm
These proposals are now been discussed by the Council and the European
Parliament and will be hopefully adopted by the end of 2012. Negotiations
on the EU Budget are continuing in parallel.
In the UK BIS is the leading department in the negotiations: NCVO,
WCVA, NICVA and SCVO (UKEN) will be working closely with BIS in the
coming months.
Feb 2012: the European Commission is to publish
the Community Strategic Framework (CSF) an EU investment policy to
deliver Europe 2020 applicable to EU Regional Development, Social,
Rural Development and Fisheries Funds. It aims to ensure an integrated
use of the funds by establishing key areas of support; territorial
challenges to be addressed; policy objectives; cooperation areas and
co-ordination mechanisms.
Consultations: the EC will launch a formal consultation
on the CSF; the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS)
will launch an informal consultation on both the draft legislative
package and the CSF. Further details to be announced!
Mar-Jun 2012: BIS will start a period of reflection,
particularly around delivery options, following the informal consultation.
Summer 2012: events around
the UK likely to be organised in the summer
Late 2012: BIS to launch a formal consultation
on the UK Partnership Contract. The Partnership Contract will cover
period 2014-2020 for all the funds; it must be drawn up in cooperation
with Partners, including Civil Society. It will cover funding allocations,
details of how funds will be integrated to address the needs of
areas or target groups most affected by poverty; milestones; results
and actions taken to involve partners.
|
|
| RegioStars 2013: applications must be submitted before 20 April 2012 |
|
| DG Regio has opened the RegioStars2013
competition for innovative projects supported by the EU Structural
Funds. There are 5 award categories for 2013: smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth; city star category; information & communication
category. For more information email: REGIO-STARS@ec.europa.eu |
|
| European Council focus on Youth and
SMEs |
|
Following an informal meeting of the
European Council on 30 January, European Leaders have agreed that
urgent action is needed in three areas: stimulating employment for
young people; completing the Single Market; boosting the financing
of SMEs.
The Commission will now work with the national authorities and social
partners from the eight EU countries with the highest youth unemployment
rates (Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania
and Ireland) to ensure that up to €82 billion of EU structural
funds that have not yet been allocated to projects are used to best
effect.
Member States also endorsed proposals to redeploy structural funds
to help finance job creation by small businesses. Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises have created 80% of all new jobs in the EU over the last
five years. Measures to be taken by at Members States level will have
to be reflected in the National Reform Programmes due to be published
in April 2012.
http://www.european-council.europa.eu/council-meetings?lang=en
EY2012European Year for Active Aging and Solidarity between
generations
The Opening conference for the European Year for Active Ageing and
Solidarity between Generations 2012 was held in January under the
Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU. The UK national coordinator
is the Department for Work and Pensions Ageing Society & State
Pensions Directorate.
Contact: EY.2012@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
UK Work programme for European Year 2012: UK_WP_EY2012_EN [1].pdf;
Visit: http://europa.eu/ey2012/ey2012
|
|
|
