Minutes:
The Chair asked Paul Green to give his update.
Paul said that with the UK still remaining in the ESIF programme until 31 December 2020, one of the key priorities was to maximise the amount of money in contract by that date.
Paul reported that the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) had £70 million in a reserve fund to aid the transition to a replacement scheme – the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. He said that supporting small business was key.
Paul said that the LGA continued to raise concerns about the increasing amount of money in the European Social Fund (ESF) Reserve Fund which indicated difficulty in getting it spent. He said that this was in large part down to capacity issues at the DWP and this helped make the case for a devolved replacement fund post-Brexit.
Paul finished by updating members on the situation with EU funding and the transition period. He said the Government had set out science-based schemes such as Horizon Europe and that there would be time limited participation in elements of Erasmus Plus as well as the Northern Ireland Peace Programme.