The European Structural Funds Programmes run from 2007-13. The UK will continue to receive substantial European Funding amounting to €10.6 billion.
More information on the national picture
New Programmes
The European Commission proposed the following new programmes:
-
'Convergence' Programme equivalent to Objective 1
(regions under 75 per cent of European Union average Gross Domestic
Product)
-
'Competitiveness and Employment' Programme equivalent
to Objectives 2 and 3 (criteria to be determined by the member states)
-
'Co-operation' Programme which will cover the old
Interreg IIIA, IIIB, IIIC, Interact, Urbact and Espon
The majority of the funding received by the UK will be through a new
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and a new European Social Fund
(ESF). The allocation for the East Midlands is 516.5 million euros made up
of an ERDF programme worth 268.5 million euros and an ESF programme worth
248 million euros. Further information on the development of both
these new programmes can be found by following the links to the left of the
page.
It is important to note that the project activity funded by the current
2000-06 programmes will continue until 2008. There will be some overlap
between the programmes in 2007 and 2008 while the current programmes run
down and the new programmes start up.
Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas
European Cohesion and Structural Fund policy in the future will be driven
by the Lisbon (competitiveness) and Gothenburg (sustainability) Agendas,
where the EU has set the goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge based economy in the world.
Any regional or sub-regional programme will need to clearly demonstrate how
it contributes towards this aim. It will mean increased emphasis on
competitiveness, innovation and the knowledge economy.
For a more in-depth introduction to European Funding for 2007-2013,
see New Funds, Better Rules: A Beginners Guide from the
EU Bookshop website.
ESF 2007-2013 Co-Financing Organisations
ESFD has confirmed full CFO status for four organisations in the East
Midlands, through whom all ESF 2007-2013 will be delivered. These are the
Skills Funding Agency (SFA), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP),a Local
Authority Consortium and the National Offender Management Service
(NOMS).
