ESIF Programme Monitoring Committee communications update paper: October 2022

Purpose

To update members on the implementation of the communications strategy since the last meeting of the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) in May 2022.

Recommendation

The PMC is invited to give an opinion on ways to increase effectiveness of communications activities aimed at promoting activities and projects supported through the European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes.

Events

On Wednesday 11 May 2022, the Managing Authority (MA) held a spring Lead Partner (LP) event via MS Teams which was attended by almost 100 stakeholders. The overarching theme of the event was the importance of improving the financial performance of the programmes, and included presentations from the PMC working group and various members of the MA.

According to our feedback survey results, respondents appreciated the honest approach to the event, the opportunity for LPs to discuss weaknesses/challenges of programmes, and the practical sessions on EUMIS and closure. They felt it could have been improved with more time for questions, more content from LPs and more evidence of practical steps the MA is taking to improve the programme. 50% rated the event as very good, 20% good, 25% fair and 5% poor. 

Website and social media

The MA continues to review its website each quarter and make any required changes, including significant ongoing work to improve the accessibility of ESIF documents. The Scottish Government’s website accessibility requirements means there are quite significant delays between when a new version of a document is officially approved and when it can be uploaded onto gov.scot.

To make sure stakeholders have access to the latest versions of documents, the MA uploads versions onto EUMIS as soon as possible and notifies them via the news section of EUMIS, while the website upload process takes place. While this workaround may not be ideal, the accessibility requirements are mandatory and the official gov.scot upload procedures cannot be bypassed or expedited.

The MA continues to use its Twitter account @scotgovESIF to raise awareness of ESF/ERDF-related projects and activity among the public, and notify stakeholders of changes to webpages and documents.

Newsletters

The MA issued e-bulletins in June and October to live Strategic Intervention (SI) and operations managers as listed on our claim payment system EUMIS, containing a range of topics relevant to stakeholder at time of issue.

Media coverage and monitoring

A selection of media coverage of ESF/ERDF-supported operations generated by Lead Partners since the last PMC meeting is below:

• 6 June: ‘Highlands research centre set to tackle animal diseases’ (ERDF: Rural Veterinary Hub) - The Times (paywall)
• 9 June: ‘New £3.5m park with outdoor gym, nature reserve and animal trail to open in Toryglen’ (ERDF – Green Infrastructure) - Glasgow Times
• 14 July: ‘Smart Bins: City of Edinburgh Council begin roll out of 11,000 digital sensors’ (ERDF: Scotland’s 8th City – Smart Cities) - Edinburgh News

Future activity

The MA plans to hold a LP event on 30 November in Glasgow – at time of writing key details remain to be confirmed, however agenda items will certainly include the closure process and efforts to speed up the claims process. The MA also plan to arrange a Ministerial site visit in December which would take the form of the 2022 annual publicity event.