As part of the CSI project we have skilled representation at the Growth Programme Board, which is the Monitoring Committee in England for the remaining 2014-2020 ESIF growth programme, and its nine sub-committees.
This means that we can make your voice heard at a national level, to influence the focus of the remaining ESIF Programme while informing important discussions around the future UK Shared Prosperity Fund and other legacy funds.
Last month, our representative Phil Lakin, European Grants Manager at The National Trust, attended the Growth & Development sub-committee meeting. Here are his five key takeaways from the meeting…
- The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will replace both the Local Growth Fund and ESIF funds.Lessons learned from both of these funds will inform the design of the UKSPF. The new fund will also include current ESIF cross-cutting themes, such as sustainable development, and will be used to deliver the Industrial Strategy and the Clean Growth Strategy.The board also commented that the UKSPF should also be utilised as a delivery tool for the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.
- Revised Foreign Exchange (FOREX) rates will mean that partnership agreements 4, 5 and 6 will fail to meet the 2018 Performance Framework reserve targets. Some cash – around 6% will be returned to Brussels.
- Residual and additional under spends (due to FOREX) are likely to be pooled into a central reserve and allocated via targeted calls and/or pro-rata additional allocations to the LEPs.
- There is no intention to reduce the minimum grant ask below £0.5m. Our representative, Phil Lakin, argued that this will in effect rule out participation of most, if not all, third sector organisations.
- The Department for Work and Pensions is seeking the sub-committee groups advice on how best to incorporate and monitor sustainable development across all ESF projects.
DWP now needs to re-capture how environmental sustainability has been incorporated into ESF projects and to better report this.
And there you have it – the 5 key takeaways from The Sustainable Growth & Development Sub-Committee meeting.
Thank you to our representative, Phil Lakin. If you would like to find out more about Phil, you can click here.
If you work in the third sector, do tell us the issues you’re facing within the current ESIF programme and have your voice heard at the next meeting. You can tweet us @CSIInvolvement or e-mail our Research Co-ordinator, Andy Churchill, at andychurchill@civilsocietyinvolvement.com
