ESIF Programme Monitoring Committee financial/operational performance update paper: May 2021

Purpose of paper

This paper provides detail of the national European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes in delivering against the objectives and goals set out in the Operational Programmes (OP). The paper is intended to support open discussion on the direction of the programmes and whether that direction remains relevant in light of current performance.

Decisions required

Members are invited to:

• make observations on progress against programme goals/target and objectives
• identify and present solutions for the continued improvement of performance against programme goals/targets and objectives

Structure and method

The paper utilises detail on programme level monitoring information, reported by Priority Axis (PA), and on extensive dialogue between the Managing Authority (MA) and lead partners to capture up-to-date delivery information. The following annexes are attached to the covering paper:

• annex A provides details of the financial commitments across the wider programme and expenditure to date
• annex B provides an additional programme level summary of performance
• annex C provides details of performance against outputs/results
• annex D provides details of pending claims
• annex E provides details of paid claims to date

Programme performance

Delivery of the ESF and ERDF programmes have continued to be delivered against the respective OPs.

Although the level of commitment in each programme is high, 84% in ERDF and 101% in ESF, the spend to date remains low. As of 4 May 2021 only 16% had been claimed against the total ERDF programme and a slightly higher amount of 19% against the total ESF programme. Further detail on commitment levels listed by PA and Thematic Objective (TO), and by regions, is available in annex A.

The table in annex B, provides further detail of ESF and ERDF programme level commitment.

At the request of members, annex C provides detail on performance against outputs and results within the programmes.

There are currently claims pending on EUMIS to the value of £35m (£29.5m for ESF and £5.5m for ERDF). There are a number of claims which have been pending in excess of 90 days. These have been delayed by a variety of factors, a further breakdown of these claims is available in annex D.

N+3

Progress toward the 2020 target was slow, as experienced in previous years and combined with the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a result both the ESF and ERDF programmes failed to meet the annual N+3 target for 2020.

To mitigate for this de-commitment, the MA submitted an application to the European Commission to invoke Article 87 ‘force majeure’ which was successful for both the ESF and ERDF programmes. This results in retaining funds of €25m and €28.8m for ESF and ERDF respectfully.

This retention of funds provides respite and offers the opportunity to focus on spend, minimising any potential de-commitment for 2021. It is therefore of vital importance that claims are submitted to the MA as efficiently as possible to maximise spend and progress towards achieving the N+3 target for 2021. A breakdown of claims paid to date is available in annex E.

Annexes A-E

To view the annexes attached to this covering paper, please contant europeanstructuralfunds@gov.scot