LATEST NEWS: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Operational Programme 2007-13 was launched on 15th February 2008.
The new ERDF Programme for Yorkshire and The Humber
The Yorkshire and The Humber 2007-23 ERDF programme was approved by the European Commission on 7th December 2007 and was formally launched in Sheffield by European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hubner and Local Government Minister, John Healey MP on the 15th February 2008.
It is managed by Yorkshire Forward, the region's development agency. Further information about the programme and the opportunities that it offers can be found on Yorkshire Forward's website. Please see the link below.
Key Features of the ERDF Programme
The ERDF Programme operates across the whole Yorkshire and The Humber region with ring-fenced funding for the former Objective 1 area of South Yorkshire, which is a phasing-in region for the 2007-2013 period. It has around £394m to invest in total and focuses squarely on the Lisbon Agenda of delivering sustainable economic growth. The programme's vision is: "to capitalise on the region's assets and secure a prosperous future for the region's people and businesses within a sustainable knowledge economy".
To achieve this, a range of key actions has been identified:
- to increase R&D, innovation and technology transfer
- to create dynamism and entrepreneurship within enterprises
- to embed creativity in the process of product development
- to drive more company innovation and embed technological advances into production processes
- to restructure the business base towards a more high value added economy
- to secure the physical/electronic infrastructure that underpins business productivity
- to ensure that disadvantaged communities benefit from growth of the economy
At least 75% of the Programme resources are aimed at promoting competitiveness and creating jobs.
There are three region-wide priorities and a fourth specific infrastructure priority for South Yorkshire. A fifth priority runs across the programme for Technical Assistance.
Priority 1: Promoting Innovation and R&D
Priority 2: Stimulating and Supporting Successful Enterprise
Priority 3: Sustainable Communities
Priority 4: Economic Infrastructure for a Competitive Economy (South Yorkshire only)
Priority 5: Technical Assistance
England European Social Fund (ESF) Programme 2007-2013
The European Commission also approved the new ESF programme for England and Gibraltar for 2007-2013. The programme will invest £258m over seven years in Yorkshire and The Humber, of which £118m is ring-fenced for South Yorkshire. There are two main priorities:
- extending employment opportunities by tackling barriers to work faced by people who are unemployed or disadvantaged in the labour market;
- developing a skilled and adaptable workforce by training people who lack basic skills and good qualifications.
The Programme can be found on the ESF website via the link below.
The Yorkshire and The Humber Regional Skills Partnership has developed a regional ESF Framework for 2007-2013 on the basis of the programme proposal. The regional ESF frameworks will inform the delivery of the ESF programme so that it adds value to regional employment and skills priorities and complements other funding streams. The Framework can be accessed via the link below.
Following an initial Expression of Interest round, the Regional ESF Committee is, from 23 April 2008, issuing a call for full ESF Technical Assistance applications. The Committee has agreed that it will not operate application rounds for Technical Assistance activity. However, there is an initial application deadline of 23 May 2008 for priority activity, so that application and approvals for this priority activity can be managed. For further details about applying refer to documents 01 to 11 in the Related Documents section at the bottom of this page.
Other European Funds
Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) 2007-13
A £3.9 billion budget for the RDPE for England 2007 to 2013 has been agreed. This is more than double the budget available for the previous programme which ran from 2000-06.
The budget for the next RDPE is constructed from an EU European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) allocation of around £750 million, plus co-financing from the Government of around £850 million. In England, this will be supplemented with approximately £1.5 billion generated through voluntary modulation, which will be co-financed with approximately £800 million of national funds.
Details of how the Programme will be delivered in Yorkshire and The Humber can be found on the Yorkshire Forward website below.
European Fisheries Fund 2007-13
Work on developing an Operational Programme for the European Fisheries Fund is progressing. A consultation with stakeholders will be launched later this year. Details of funding and the grant process will be announced by the Marine and Fisheries Agency following approval of the Programme.
