The CSG and the Regulations were agreed by Member States recently and are available from the European Commission's website.

UK National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)
The programmes have also been developed on the basis of responses to the earlier consultation on the UK National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), which provides the overall strategic framework for implementing the Community Strategic Guidelines into UK Structural Funds programmes. The consultation on the NSRF, which contains a chapter on Scotland, closed on 22 May 2006 and a summary of responses, including the final revised NSRF, can be found on the Department of Trade and Industry website.

European & External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament
The European & External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament held an Inquiry on the Executive's plans for future Structural Funds programmes which reported in June 2006. A report of the Committee's inquiry and submitted evidence, including the Scottish Executive's response, is available from the Scottish Parliament website.

Stakeholders
The programmes were also developed on the basis of wider consultation with key Scottish stakeholders over the course of 2006. In particular a series of stakeholder events were held by the Scottish Executive at the turn of 2005/2006 to discuss initial proposals.

Download : Structural Funds post-2006 - stakeholders' views report.