2010 to 2015 government policy: management of the European Regional Development Fund
Updated 8 May 2015
Applies to England
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This is a copy of a document that stated a policy of the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. The previous URL of this page was https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/supporting-economic-growth-through-managing-the-european-regional-development-fund. Current policies can be found at the GOV.UK policies list.
Issue
We want economic growth to be more evenly shared across the country and between industries.
To help achieve this, we target EU funding to areas that have found it difficult to attract private investment, so that they can improve their economic competitiveness.
Actions
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) manages the 10 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes in England.
Background
The ERDF was set up in 1975, championed particularly by the UK and Italy to ensure that EU membership could show tangible economic benefits at home. It has become the main way that the EU has implemented its regional policy.
Bills and legislation
The aims and scope of the ERDF are set out in Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and Council dated 5 July 2006.
General provisions for the ERDF, European Social Fund and Cohesion Fund are contained in Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006.
Appendix 1: managing the European Regional Development Fund
This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Union’s structural funds. These are provided for investment by member states to reduce structural imbalances in economic performance within and between the members.
The funds are awarded to public, private and voluntary sector organisations to support local area economic growth, its businesses, communities and people.
ERDF is one of the largest of these funding sources and runs in 7 year programme periods. The current programmes for 2007 to 2013 are managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in England and are worth around €3.2 billion (approximately £2.8 billion). The next programme - 2014 to 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme - is currently being developed.
The role of DCLG in managing the ERDF programmes in England is to make sure they conform to the European Commission’s regulations while also maximising local economic growth.
We also carry out the day-to-day management of the programmes (except in London where this is performed by the Greater London Authority). Each programme has its own priorities and funding allocation, and is led by a local management committee. The committee is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and implementation of the programme.
What ERDF seeks to achieve
The ERDF’s priorities are to:
- support innovation and the knowledge-based economy
- stimulate enterprise and support successful businesses
- ensure sustainable development, production and consumption
- build sustainable communities
Funding is managed in 3 strands:
- convergence
- regional competitiveness and employment
- European territorial co-operation
Eight of the programmes DCLG manage focus on local competitiveness and employment. These aim to strengthen a local area’s competitiveness by promoting innovation and enterprise, as well as development, production and consumption that does not damage the environment.
One programme, in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, focuses on convergence. ERDF convergence programmes aim to improve the conditions for growth and development in the least-developed regions where the economy is still lagging behind the rest of the EU.
Who ERDF has helped
Since 2000, thousands of organisations have benefited from ERDF funds.
To date through the 2007 to 2013 competitiveness and employment programmes in England, 62,507 jobs have been created and 14,933 new businesses helped to get started or move into local areas.
The benefits of ERDF can go well beyond the immediate programme period. For example, ERDF support for brand new businesses can help those companies to grow and create jobs well into the future.
European territorial co-operation
The UK also takes part in 9 European territorial co-operation programmes. These seek to encourage more co-operation between EU countries and balanced economic development within Europe. More than €1.3 billion of ERDF funding is available through these programmes.
While DCLG’s core ERDF programme is run across England only, we act for the whole of the UK for European territorial co-operation programmes. We take part in meetings that report on programme progress and that make decisions about projects to be supported. DCLG also operates a system that ensures that all UK project partners are properly audited.
The EU website has more information about the EU’s support for economic development.