North East England ERDF & ESF Programmes 2007 - 13

The European Regional Development Fund

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) forms part of The European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy. It seeks to promote sustainable economic development in regions across the EU’s 27 Member States.

Under the Regional Competitiveness and Employment strand ERDF provides resources for investment in support of the Lisbon Agenda of Innovation, growth, competitiveness and jobs in 168 EU regions, The North East is eligible for support as one of the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Regions.

ERDF is a major EU policy instrument helping to address regional imbalances in economic performance and jobs. The legal basis for ERDF is found in EU Regulations. As such it is governed by stringent eligibility criteria and rules of procedure.

The programme will focus on two key priorities:

Priority 1 Enhancing & Exploiting Innovation (£135m)

Priority 1 will promote and embed opportunity by advancing science, technology and innovation within the regions business base and broader communities linked to the regions Strategy for Success and three pillars approach.
This will support activities such as:

1. Investment in ‘Innovation Connectors’
2. Support for innovation and technology – led sectors
3. Exploitation of science base

Priority 2 Business Growth & Enterprise (£110m)

Priority 2 will promote measures that develop the enterprise and business base of the region, including in disadvantaged areas, to address the relative underperformance of the North East in terms of business formation, sustainability and environmental performance.

This will support activities such as:
1. Cultivating and sustaining enterprise
2. Enhancing the competitiveness and growth of existing SMEs

The European Social Fund

As one of the EU's Structural Funds, ESF seeks to reduce differences in prosperity across the EU and enhance economic and social cohesion. So although ESF funding is spread across the EU, most money goes to those countries and regions where economic development is less advanced. The new programme will invest £4 billion in 2007-2013 of which £2 billion will come from the ESF and £2 billion will be national funding.

The programme has two primary objectivies 'Convergence' which aims to develop areas where the economy is lagging behind the rest of the European Union. In England, only Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly benefits from ESF funding under the Convergence Objective. The second is the 'Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective' which covers all areas outside of the 'Convergence' objective. The whole of England is covered by this objective, except Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The priorities in the 2007 - 2013 European Social Fund (ESF) programme are designed to focus ESF spending on specific activities and to ensure that it reaches people in most need of support. There are two main priorities in England:

Priority 1 - Extending employment opportunities (£1.2bn)

It supports projects to tackle the barriers to work faced by unemployed and disadvantaged people.

Priority 2 - Developing a skilled and adaptable workforce (£670m)

It supports projects to train people who do not have basic skills and qualifications needed in the workplace.

For further infomation please follow the links below :
ERDF New Programme
ESF New Programme

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