Minutes:
The Chair invited Paul Green, Adviser, to introduce the update.
Paul reported that since the last Board meeting, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was now 97 per cent committed and the European Social Fund (ESF) was at 76 per cent. The ESF figure represented an improvement but was still disappointing with limited time left of the programme The LGA continued to lobby Government about this and about the need for the replacement UK Shared Prosperity Fund to be a localised place-based fund.
Paul reported that discussions were now underway about the use of the ESF Reserve Fund where a number of ideas have been discussed, including tackling the digital divide, supporting people who were being made redundant and supporting homeless people into work. Members agreed that tackling the digital divide was vital as many deprived young people were at risk of falling further behind their peers in terms of education. Members stressed the importance of availability of WiFi. It was suggested that schools had a vital role to play in identifying those children and young people potentially at risk of getting left behind. Paul said that the proposal could link into existing networks and projects that were currently working on this and hopefully plug the gaps in provision.
Decision
Members of the Resources Board noted the update.