The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

You requested the following –

for ERDF funds in Scotland please provide for the accounting period, 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 (as in the report):

- the total value of ERDF recoveries across the programme
- information on the largest 5 recoveries (reason, amount, recipient)
- the three main reasons for recoveries.

Response

A UK figure of €42.2m is identified in Table 3.5.2: Financial Corrections for the accounting year 01/07/2017 to 30/06/2018 reported by Member States for Cohesion Policy period 2014 – 2020 in EUR Million (Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget 2018 – Page 235). Of this figure, €41,201,184.16 expenditure was withdrawn from the ERDF Scotland 2017/2018 Annual Accounts.

There are three elements which comprise the total amount of expenditure withdrawn from these accounts. These are:

1. A figure of €37,088,238.43 which was withdrawn from the Accounts in line with Article 137(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013. This states that ‘Where expenditure previously included in an application for interim payment for the accounting year is excluded by a Member State from its accounts due to an ongoing assessment of that expenditure's legality and regularity, any or all of that expenditure subsequently found to be legal and regular may be included in an application for interim payment relating to subsequent accounting years’. In line with Article 137(2), once all audit issues have been resolved, the Managing Authority (MA) for the ERDF Scotland Operational Programme will reintroduce the majority of this expenditure into a new Annual Accounts year.

2. A Self-Correction of €3,332,093.21 to the 2017/2018 ERDF Annual Accounts to bring the total residual error rate below the 2% Commission materiality threshold to enable the accounts to be accepted by the Commission in line with Article 139 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013; and,

3. A figure of €780,852.52 which relates to permanent recoveries identified by the MA on paid claims during the 2017/2018 Annual Accounts year.
 

The table attached provides information on the remainder of the FOI request.

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FOI/201900006947 Information released

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