ESEP Download Resources : UP-date September 2010
Welcome to the September 2010 issue of UP-date, the e-Newsletter for the Lowlands and Uplands Scotland Programmes
PROGRAMME NEWS
Reminder of Stage 2 Application Deadline
Project sponsors are reminded of the following deadlines for the submission of a Stage 2 application by successful Stage 1 projects:
ERDF Priority 1: 5 November 2010
ERDF Priorities 3 and 4: 8 October 2010
PMC Agenda
The draft Agenda for the next meeting of the Programme Monitoring Committee, to be held in Glasgow on 27 October 2010, has been published and is available for download from the PMC Papers Page
Implementation of the ERDF Programme
The current grant commitment levels in the ERDF Programme are detailed below in Table 1:
Table 1: Cumulative Summary of Financial Commitments in ERDF Programme to date:
|
|
Total ERDF Grant Allocation (£)* |
Number of projects approved |
Total ERDF Grant Committed (£)* |
ERDF Grant yet to be allocated (£)* |
|
Priority 1: Research and Innovation |
82,898,704 |
54 |
67,638,955 |
15,259, 749 |
|
Priority 2: Enterprise Growth |
109,967,669 |
35 |
97,557,458
|
12,410,211 |
|
Priority 3: Urban Regeneration** |
91,357,756 |
27 |
62,647,182
|
28,710,574 |
|
Priority 4: Rural Development*** |
46,017,241 |
27 |
20,744,945 |
25,272,296 |
** The figure for Priority 3 takes account of the £25 million that would be used to capitalise a JESSICA fund and also the £10 million grant allocation to fund activity complementary to JESSICA
** * The figure for Priority 4 includes all awards made by the South of Scotland Global Grants Body
Implementation of the ESF Programme
The current grant commitment levels in the ESF Programme are detailed below in Table 2:
Table 2: Cumulative Summary of Financial Commitments in ESF Programme to date:
|
|
Total ESF Grant Allocation (£)* |
Number of projects approved |
Total ESF Grant Committed (£)* |
ESF Grant yet to be allocated (£)* |
|
Priority 1: Progressing into Employment |
128,875,053 |
204 |
113,691,357
|
** |
|
Priority 2: Progressing through Employment |
89,640,744 |
68 |
54,723,790
|
** |
|
Priority 3: Improving Access to Lifelong Learning |
18,582,758 |
27 |
12,070,808
|
** |
*An average exchange rate of 1 EURO = £0.90 has been used and the total grant allocations for Priorities 1 and 3 take account of a recent Commission decision on resource virement.
** The remainder of ESF grant in Priorities 1, 2 and 3 have been transferred into a new Priority 5 – Strategic Skills Pipeline.
OTHER NEWS
Biodiversity Fund
Scotland's communities are being given extra help to improve and enhance their natural environment with new funding for biodiversity projects. Up to £250,000 is being released by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) over the next two years to deliver biodiversity conservation at a local level. Further information can be found on the SNH website
Consultancy on EU Biodiversity Strategy
The Commission's Environment department has opened a public consultation on the post-2010 EU biodiversity strategy. The objective of this consultation is to gather input from a wide range of stakeholders on possible policy options for the new strategy. These views will be assessed by the Commission as part of the process of its development. The consultation is open until 22 October 2010.
Low Carbon Investment Conference
A two-day Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference was held in Edinburgh on 28 and 29 September to discuss the multi-billion pound opportunities presented by renewable energy and other low carbon developments.
Equality Act 2010 – Consultation
The UK Government‘s Equality Act 2010 includes a public sector equality duty – ‘the general duty‘ – designed to help public authorities promote equality and tackle discrimination. Further ‘specific duties‘ can be placed on public authorities to enable the better performance of the general duty. Scottish Ministers intend to make some additions to the list of bodies covered
by the general duty, and to impose further ‘specific duties‘ on some Scottish public authorities. The consultation on the public sector equality draft regulations and order has opened. Details of the consultation document and how to respond can be found on the Scottish Government’s website The closing date for responses is 26 November 2010.
