Agenda item

Sean McGrath, External Investment/Funding, Lancashire County Council was welcomed to the meeting and gave a presentation to accompany the report provided to Board members on the role of European Structural Investment Funds in promoting Economic Development Activity in Lancashire.

The fund which had expanded over 7 years was the largest dedicated programme of European funds for Lancashire. The two main programmes had been the European Regional Development Fund at £145.5 and the European Social Fund at £116.5m. Several partners had been involved in delivering projects and financial allocations had related to SME Competitiveness, Skills & Employment, Research & Innovation and Low Carbon Economy.

In relation to governance, it was noted that despite being national programmes some of the governance arrangements were brought down to a local level through the Lancashire ESIF Committee which comprised of local partners and three government departments who were the Accountable Bodies for each fund and had the final say on which projects were approved. Each fund had a different appraisal and management fund which had resulted in some complexities in terms of timing and management and how projects were dealt with.

In terms of any future funding, there had been some key delivery issues that were highlighted which would be important to consider moving forward. As the fund had been a 7-year funding allocation, this had allowed time for project development and long-term planning where significant capital projects had been dealt with. There had been local co-ordination and strategic advice in terms of developing projects, working with applicants on their applications and lobbying the government on local priorities, and where possible engaging with and on behalf of local partners.  Support was offered through the Technical Officer Group, various groups under the Skills and Employment Hub and Boost which acted as an umbrella for business support work.

It was highlighted that a key point for any future funding would be if there was a requirement for match funding or whether the Government would offer some flexibility in this. Match funding had played a key requirement of the European funding with at least 40% match funding required and this had to some extent dictated which organisations could apply for funding.

In terms of lessons learnt and how future iterations could be influenced, it was highlighted that co-ordination at a local level played a key role in terms of identifying priorities, this was linked back to the Employment Strategic Framework and working with providers to ensure that dots were joined together on ESF. A Skills Escalator Model was developed and linked to mainstream provision and data was used to ensure that provision was focused on areas of need to maximise impact. Moving forward, ensuring that priorities could be influenced at a local level was a critical element. 

Resolved: That:

The Board noted the report and presentation and were recommended to use lobbying opportunities, through bodies such as the LEP Network, to ensure that Lancashire retained a similar level of investment and determination over the use of this resource in the future.