ESFVON
European Social Fund Voluntary Organisations Northern
ESF OBJECTIVE 3 - 1999
The North East of England has received revised ESF allocations for 1999,
which includes the 1998 underspends as agreed with the European Commission.
The new breakdown of resources for each Priority, is as follows:
| Priority | Non Government | Government | Total |
| 1 | £8,917,922 | £4,270,775 | £13,188,697 |
| 2 | £10,477,777 | £5,553,626 | £16,001,403 |
| 3 | £1,613,277 | £892,682 | £2,505,959 |
| 4 | £3,321,241 | N/A | £3,321,241 |
Following the further bidding rounds which have recently been held, the new
allocations provide for all projects to be funded in Priorities 1, 3, and 4.
A significant Reserve List remains however, in respect of Priority 2 where
there are insufficient resources to meet all applications.
The result of these further funds, and recommendations to the Objective 3
Regional at their meeting on 20 December 1999 should result in voluntary and
community organisations in the region being approved for a total of ESF in
excess of £8.3 million, equivalent to a third of all the resources available
to the non-Government sectors in the North East.
Preparations are continuing for the implementation of the new ESF Objective 3,
but it will be in the New Year before matters start to crystallise.
As previous applicants will be aware, ESF Objective 3 in the North East (as
in other regions) is informed by a Regional Development Plan. For the new
Programme, a new Regional Development Plan has been commissioned setting out
indicative activities and target groups across the five policy fields. A
draft copy is currently subject to a two week consultation process, and ESFVON
has sought a cross section of representational views to inform their response
to the document.
The Regional Development Plan should be completed in early January 2000.
The Operational Programme which sets out national priorities for ESF Objective
3 has been subject to delay, and we understand that the Government will
complete this document by Christmas 1999.
The Administrative Arrangements for managing the ESF Objective 3 process and
approved projects are currently being reviewed for the new Programme.
A Government Offices 2000 Group was set up earlier in the year and produced a
paper about proposed changes for the Objective 3 Great Britain Monitoring
Committee in July. A further paper about proposed changes to the financial
process was presented by the ESF Unit to the Monitoring Committee in November.
During this period, comments and representations were submitted, including
from the voluntary sector where ESFVON joined with other regions in making a
national response.
These events have recently culminated in nationally convened workshops
attended by Government Offices, and representatives of national and regional
partners. These workshops focused on eligibility, scoring, appraisal,
contracts, payments, evaluation, dissemination, and guidance.
The outcome of these workshops is such that it is envisaged that there will
be important changes which applicants will need to address. As soon as
matters become clearer ESFVON will be holding seminars to advise and explain
the proposed changes.
A significant issue which is currently being addressed by ESFVON and colleagues
in other regions, together with the NCVO, is the proposal that projects will
only receive a 10% advance of ESF and then be required to claim retrospectively
in instalments. Not only could this have a significant affect on many
organisations, but our current understanding is that this also goes against
the intentions of the European Commission who have proposed an advance payment
to the Government to alleviate payment delays. A detailed response is being
prepared to seek to clarify and mitigate the effects of this proposal.
Last Updated: 22 December 1999