1.1.
In
December 2014 we were appointed by the Minister for Finance and
Government Business, as EU Funding Ambassadors, with the remit to
provide independent advice against our Terms of Reference (Appendix
A), which called upon us to:
·
Identify
and promote integration and advise on how best to maximise
synergies with other EU and domestic funding streams and links with
the Economic Prioritisation Framework;
·
Gather
intelligence, from within our respective networks and beyond, to
inform our report;
·
Offer
Ministers perspectives on how Wales could be more successful in
maximising EU funding under these programmes and how opportunities
can be made more accessible;
·
Promote
opportunities and encourage participation across all
sectors;
·
Advise
on how Wales can maximise opportunities under the new ETC
programmes, including building collaboration with international
partners.
1.2.
Our
appointments were made on a voluntary, unpaid basis and, crucially,
were designed to allow us to take an independent perspective. We
have had the opportunity to draw extensively on discussions with a
wide range of stakeholders in Wales and Europe as well as on our
own experience, networks and backgrounds. Our remit ends with the
forthcoming National Assembly for Wales elections in May
2016. This final report is now presented to the Minister of
Finance and Business and through her to the Welsh Government and
the National Assembly of Wales for further examination and
consideration of the recommendations set out in
it.
1.3.
We
published an interim report in December 2015 which was circulated
widely by the Minister within Welsh Government, to the Assembly,
and to all partners. A range of important comments and
suggestions have been received from partner organisations in Wales,
in all cases welcoming our initial recommendations and calling for
the Welsh Government to move along the lines we recommended.
A summary of these reactions is included at Appendix B, and the
full reports are being made available to the European Policy Group
for more detailed examination. This final report contains the
conclusions from our work and sets out our recommendations to the
incoming Welsh Government for the remaining 4 -5 year period of the
current round of EU policy funding.
1.4.
We
recognise the importance of the current debate in the UK in
relation to the question of continued membership of the EU.
We are aware that the First Minister and Leaders of all political
parties raised concerns about the timing of the Referendum so close
to the Assembly elections and are also aware that the question of
membership of the EU will feature strongly in the lead up to these
elections. We have worked on the premise that the UK will decide to
remain within a reformed and reforming EU and that a future Welsh
Government will wish to maintain a productive and mutually
beneficial relationship with the EU. In view of the enormous
significance of this decision to Wales and to the UK, we encourage
the Welsh Government to consider making available a factual report
of the relationship between Wales and the EU, in particular in
relation to the range of EU Policies and Programmes, with their
different funding streams, which impact (and have impacted) on
Wales. In this way the Welsh public would be better placed to
take an informed view of the question posed in the Referendum and
the implications of the UK remaining or leaving the EU.
1.5.
Our
report looks forward. We have therefore addressed our
conclusions and recommendations towards ways of working in the
future in terms of the machinery the Welsh Government needs to put
in place and which we believe could work to the benefit of
Wales. We believe that rapid examination of our
recommendations could help the Welsh Government to take some steps
in the remaining weeks to strengthen its capacity to handle and
deliver the inter-departmental challenges ahead.
2.1
Wales
is an excellent example of a Country that should have a wide
ranging, mutually beneficial relationship with the European
Union. There are clear overlaps of policy and politics and
obvious economic, educational and social drivers. There is a
strong political commitment at the highest levels of Welsh
Government to the existence of such a relationship. Despite
that, we have observed in our work that the engagement of Wales
with the European Union, outside the area of EU Structural Funds
and the Common Agricultural Policy, does not appear to have the
depth, strategic content and coherence that one would expect
through comparison with other similar regions. A large part
of our activity, therefore, has been devoted to examining the
opportunities to address this and has resulted in us making 7 key
recommendations as listed below. These recommendations are more
fully developed and explained in section 7 of this
report.
1.
A review and
restatement of the Welsh Government’s EU strategy,
incorporating a European Prioritisation Framework which would set
out clearly a limited number of key strategic areas as the highest
priorities for Welsh Government targeting and support in the period
up to 2020.
2.
The confirmation by
the new post-election Welsh Government of the European Policy
Group, comprising members at the most senior levels of Government,
chaired by the Minister designated with responsibility for EU
policy funding.
3.
Further development of
the new European network group and its expansion to include a wider
range of stakeholders.
4.
The establishment of a
support team to underpin the work of the European Policy Group,
drawing together expertise from key policy officials, WEFO and
Welsh Government staff in Brussels.
5.
Strengthening the role
of the Welsh Government office in Brussels as the key focus of
tactical implementation, a key source of intelligence to inform
strategic prioritisation, and empowered to drive follow up action
in pursuit of Welsh Government priorities.
6.
Consideration of the
future management arrangements required to strengthen the overall
coordination of the range of EU Policy funding streams available to
Wales.
7.
Welsh Government
should continue to communicate widely good examples to illustrate
the impact, potential or actual, of Welsh/European ventures and the
difference they can and do make to Wales.
3.1
We
present this report at a time of considerable uncertainty.
The November 2015 UK Government Spending Review resulted in
significant downward pressure on the resources available to the
Welsh Government through which it is able to take forward its
priority objective, in particular, its economic and social
policy aspirations. The forthcoming referendum on membership
of the EU is also raising crucial questions which will affect the
future of Wales.
3.2
There
is a strong commitment within the present Welsh Government to the
importance of a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship
with the European Union. It has advocated repeatedly the
strategic importance of continued membership of the EU by the
UK. This is seen as vital to the future of Wales and its
place in the world. The close fit and “coherence”
of EU and Welsh Government strategies (as evidenced in the
provisions of the EU’s 2020 strategy and the Welsh
Government’s ‘Wales in the EU (2012)’ and
‘Wales in the World (2015)’ policy statements) provides
an important opportunity to exploit EU policies and their
associated funding steams to add value and impact to the Welsh
Government’s own strategies and delivery through to
2020.
3.3
Wales
has been a recipient of EU policy funding since the creation of the
National Assembly for Wales in 1999 and West Wales and the Valleys
continues to be classified by the EU as a ‘less developed
region’. Wales, West Wales and the Valleys in
particular, therefore remains eligible for maximum levels of EU
Cohesion and Structural policy investment for at least the next 4
years.
3.4
Historically,
Wales has tended to focus public attention mainly on the EU’s
Cohesion Policy and its Structural Funds and on the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP). However, the Commission’s
Europe 2020 strategy and the EU’s financial provisions
(2014-2020) offer a much wider range of opportunities, across the
policy spectrum. Having benefited from successive EU
programmes, we have seen that some organisations in Wales already
possess expertise in accessing and deploying these core EU funds,
with expertise spread across a broad range of sectors and
institutions. Wales also has some experience in accessing the
range of other EU programmes and funding streams although,
recognising that these programmes are centrally managed by the
European Commission, Welsh experience and expertise is more limited
and WEFO itself has not been responsible for most of
them.
3.5
Nevertheless,
Wales’ strategic needs remain challenging. Strong
leadership is required from the Welsh Government, the National
Assembly and all Welsh partners to achieve the turn-around required
in the Welsh economy. There is a need to boost skills,
productivity and wages, to boost investment in innovation and
research coupled with a special need for more research scientists
in Wales, to create more ‘intelligent’ SME’s and
to promote the acquisition of high level skills so as to drive the
economy and generate many more quality jobs. At the same
time, a real concern remains throughout Wales about the extent of
social exclusion, unacceptable levels of poverty and lack of basic
skills, especially amongst young people.
4.1
We
have concentrated our effort over the past year on three
aims:
·
Giving
further momentum to the Welsh Government’s efforts to raise
awareness of, and engagement with, the range and potential of
EU policies, partnership opportunities and funding streams of
interest to Wales;
·
Encouraging
increased participation and active cooperation with and between the
different partners and stakeholders (public, private and third
sectors and higher and further education institutions) in Wales and
also encouraging them to exploit synergies of EU and domestic
policy and funding so as to make a visible difference to policy and
practice in Wales; and
·
Identifying
specific opportunities to be pursued on the basis of a more
collaborative way of working set within a more strategic all-Wales
framework, drawing together Welsh Government and the different
partners and stakeholders in a “Team-Wales” effort to
pursue the highest priority opportunities for Wales.
4.2
To
inform our work, we have conducted an extensive programme of
discussions and attended and facilitated events, at both domestic
and EU level. This has included a series of discussions with
Welsh Government Ministers and officials, the WLGA, the WCVA, the
CBI, IoD and the FSB, and the Higher and Further Education sectors,
together with various other partners and stakeholders involved in
the deployment and/or delivery of European Policy Funding.
This has also involved us in promoting and/or participating in
Conferences in a number of policy fields, most notably: the WEFO
Horizon 2020 Annual Event in February 2015; the WCVA Third Sector
conference “Europe Matters to Wales” last May; the
joint Welsh Government, WLGA and Welsh Higher Education Brussels
Conference on European Territorial Cooperation Conference on 2
October; the Wales Forum on Europe Conference on Internationalising
HE on 11 November; the European collaboration and funding for
Health and Wellbeing in Wales Conference in February 2016; two
events on Europe and the cultural sector in November 2015 and
February 2016 and an Erasmus+ workshop also in February
2016.
4.3
In
pursuit of the recommendations set out in our interim report, a
special all Wales event is being held in March 2016 to review the
effectiveness of the Welsh strategy to combat poverty and social
exclusion, organised jointly by the WCVA and the Welsh
Government. A parallel event is envisaged for young people
with a view to promoting synergies between the use of the European
Social Fund and the Erasmus + to focus on the strategy to
strengthen provisions in Wales for post-16 education and training
opportunities for young people.
4.4
Discussions
we held with the European Commission were designed to provide a
thorough understanding of how the EU decision-making system
operates. We focussed on learning about best- practice
examples from which Wales could learn lessons to improve its own
performance. We met with a wide range of European Commission
senior officials, and with representatives of other European
regions to examine how they manage their EU engagement. These
regional discussions focussed in particular on Scotland, Northern
Ireland, Flanders and Skane (the region of South West Sweden
including Malmo); regions selected in part because of their
pre-existing links with Wales, but primarily because they are
regularly cited as regions which are seen to engage constructively
and successfully with the EU. An analysis of the approach
developed by Scotland is attached as Appendix C to this
report.
4.5
We
held discussions with Welsh Government staff and with the National
Assembly, Welsh Local Government Association and Welsh Higher
Education staff based in the Wales House office in Brussels so as
to enable us to understand how Wales currently engages with the
European Commission and EU programmes and to enable us to compare
and contrast Wales’ experience and approaches with those
adopted by other regions.
5.1
In
this section of our report we set out the key findings from our
work and where and how we consider these could offer opportunities
for Wales. They are not the result of a rigorous piece of
research, but rather presented as a set of examples and
opportunities which we believe have broader applicability in terms
of a constructive approach across the policy spectrum. The
main areas of focus in the conclusions and recommendations in this
report are around what we believe is the short term need to
establish enhanced prioritisation, management and resource
allocation processes in Wales as a pre requisite to further
consideration of key opportunities. Nevertheless, we felt it
was worth gathering the information in this section together in the
hope that it might provide a useful starting point for those
considerations in due course
5.2
As
was the case for our interim report, we have not been able to
examine all areas of policy which have a European Policy/Funding
dimension to them. We fully recognise that the wider coverage
is necessary.
5.3
We
therefore deliberately focused on the following thematic areas as
they also provide examples of the need for creative synergy
building:
a)
Economic
and Business Development
b)
Investment
in Education, Training and Youth
c)
Post
16 Education and Training
d)
Europeanisation
and Internationalisation of Universities in Wales.
e)
Combatting
Poverty and Social Exclusion
f)
European
Territorial Cooperation Programmes
5.4
In
each of these areas we have commented on opportunities which could
be more effectively pursued through improved coordination between
key stakeholders in Wales, encouraging greater synergy between the
EU Policy Funding streams in support of Welsh policy. Maximum
benefit to Wales will come only when the impact of deliberately
interrelating these policy areas is considered and encouraged,
building the necessary synergies which will contribute to greater
effectiveness. As such, there are a number of themes which
recur across all thematic areas.
5.5
The
importance of European economic development policies and funding to
Wales is abundantly clear, in particular through application of the
EU Structural and Cohesion Policies which have helped to contribute
to a more sustainable Welsh economy. Against the background
of increasing global competitiveness, Wales needs to continue to
improve the competitive position of its business sector and exploit
opportunities linked to new products, services and markets.
Use of the EU’s Structural Funds alone will not drive the
change required. In our discussions with Commission
officials, it became clear that the focus in the European
Commission is now on how traditional grant schemes can integrate
with debt financing, financial instruments and regulatory measures
to leverage increased impact. This must go hand in hand with
well organised and transparent engagement of the public, private
and third sectors, to ensure effective, joined-up delivery of
initiatives and projects and demonstrate the added policy and
financial value of EU support in a visible way.
5.6
The
Commission is also seeking to encourage and support further
trans-national and trans-regional cooperation as a means of
developing strategic economic capability throughout Europe.
In this context, we were able to examine ways in which other
European regions seek to access Territorial Cooperation (Interreg)
and Horizon 2020 funding. This review focused primarily on
the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectors of the Welsh economy, but
we consider that the principles and approaches we observed would be
applicable in other sectors.
5.7
Two
key points emerge when the approach of other regions in these areas
is examined. Firstly, consideration of the potential of these
programme opportunities at a high, generic level is of little
value. They are very competitive programmes. Success
comes from detailed study of individual funding calls within each
programme, followed by construction of consortia and partnerships
specifically designed to provide the combination of strengths and
competencies that the specific call requires. The role of
‘on the ground’ activity through officials in Brussels
is critically important in this context to engage in the relevant
networks and thus identify and engage with promising
partnerships. Secondly, the construction of consortia,
for Horizon 2020 calls for example, tends to follow a three stage
process: identifying an appropriate call, building a local
partnership and then adding the international dimension through
European networking. Within Life Sciences and Health, plans
are in hand in Wales to trial this approach in the near future and
to open up consideration of the applicability in other sectors e.g.
manufacturing.
5.8
For
these initiatives to succeed, we stress the importance of suitably
experienced Welsh Government staff based in Brussels to understand
fully the purpose of new and emerging policy funding streams, their
potential relevance to Wales and the routes through which they
might be best developed. Investments made via ERDF, the EIB and the
National Research Networks (NRNs) are a springboard to facilitate
participation in Horizon 2020 and build the capacity for successful
bidding.
5.9
As
a result of the above considerations in the Commission, there is a
strong focus on encouraging regions to think in terms of how they
can use existing strengths, existing capability and existing
investments, particularly from EU Structural Funds in the case of
Wales, as a basis for the creation of hubs which will stimulate
economic and social development. These hubs could be
sectorally or regionally based or both but crucially should be a
source of the critical mass necessary to stimulate growth.
Consideration could then be given to how other elements of the
regional or sectoral economy could be included to contribute to an
increased capability that could lead to further investment through
sources such as Horizon 2020, EIB, EFSI or commercial
funding. There are examples of such hubs in nascent
form already in Wales such as the Science and Innovation campus at
Swansea University, the Bangor University Science Park, the
Anglesey Energy Island programme, the Institute for Compound Semi
Conductor, the two City region projects, the South East Wales Metro
and the Academic and Health Authority collaborations in South West
Wales. The Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus and
the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) have
also recently been supported with EU Structural Funds. These
are examples of current activities that could be used as building
blocks to contribute to a future more strategic approach to
Europe.
5.10
We
consider that it is important for the Welsh Government to
continue to engage actively with the private sector in
Horizon 2020 and to focus on partnership building between all
sectors to obtain genuine added value especially for SMEs.
In this perspective, opportunities exist to bring
together the three sides of the knowledge triangle (i.e. higher
education, research and business innovation) through participation
in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s
programme of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs).
There is clearly scope for stronger Welsh participation in the
coming period.
5.11
In
this context we have noted the establishment of a specific Horizon
2020 unit located within WEFO to sit alongside its Structural Fund
Research and Development branch. This is a valuable first
step towards the broader operational capability we recommend in
this report. This new unit was designed to address access
issues and to build synergies across the ERDF/Horizon 2020 funding
streams. While it is still relatively early days this has
already produced some positive results, with €35m already
allocated to Welsh projects. Equally positive has been the
success in promoting synergies in the use of EU funds, with a
number of capacity building ERDF projects approved together with
complementary Horizon 2020 and ERDF
investments.
5.12
A
current example of the potential way in which the use of regulatory
powers complement other economic development efforts is the work on
a scheme called International Projects of Common European Interest
(IPCEI). This initiative seeks to identify areas of strategic
capability which are of sufficient importance to Europe that
efforts should be made to retain key capability, for example in
manufacturing, through transnational collaboration. From a
Welsh perspective, we believe the area of compound semi-conductors
is an area that could benefit from this scheme.
The
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)
5.13
The
use of the EU’s financial instruments is being seen as
increasingly important as a driver of growth and employment in the
EU. The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI),
initiated by President Juncker, is the most high profile current
example, and involves a much more strategic and operational
role for the European Investment Bank (EIB). Despite its
name, it is essential to realise that it is not a
“fund”, it is a structured product designed to extend
the risk envelope of projects in which the European Investment Bank
might participate and thereby facilitate increased participation by
the commercial investment sector. This mechanism can support
major (> €50m) projects in Member States which themselves
must meet standard commercial ‘investability’ criteria.
We believe that the EFSI therefore offers significant
opportunities for Wales, across many fields, including:
infrastructure; research and innovation; education; health; energy
and SME financing.
5.14
The
Minister for Finance and Business has very actively sought to
exploit this new financial instrument and has been responsible for
ensuring Welsh bids feature in the EFSI pipeline. We note
that the Minister and her officials continue to engage proactively
with the European Commission, the European Investment Bank
and with HM Treasury and Cabinet Office at UK level
(through
the Cross-Government Group on EFSI).
It is important that this potential continues to be fully explored
by (the incoming) Welsh Government and other stakeholders in Wales,
building on the excellent experience of successful Welsh
initiatives to date notably the Swansea University Second
campus.
5.15
Initiatives
such as the Vanguard Initiative for new growth through Smart
Specialisation and the Four Motors region development are further
examples in which the Commission is encouraging and facilitating an
increased level of trans-regional collaboration so as to create
greater critical mass. We welcome the news that Wales will
now participate in the Vanguard initiative. Although these
initiatives do not always have direct funding associated with them
in their early stages, they are intended to draw stakeholders
together and encourage joint project development which may then
lead to funding opportunities. We believe it would be
advantageous if Wales were to participate very actively in both
these initiatives. A review of the pipeline of submissions to
EFSI and the progress of Welsh bids to it should be presented to
the incoming Welsh Government for immediate review.
5.16
Another
example of the Commission’s current thinking is Smart
Specialisation Frameworks. This involves encouragement of
‘regions’ such as Wales, with Smart Specialisation
strategies, to think innovatively about how projects supported
through EU Structural Funds could also be used as a basis for
Horizon 2020 bids, or for applications for EIB funding or even as
part of EFSI projects. There are two key areas in which the
Commission would like to see these approaches utilised. The
first is the increasing interest in promoting “Smart
Cities” and the second is to address the issue of the
ageing population and, particularly, the challenge of
helping individuals to maintain an active and healthy profile as
they grow older. These areas and approaches offer significant
opportunities for Wales as we have capability and a good reputation
already exists through, for example, the City Region developments
in Wales and the extensive work underway in Wales on integration of
health and social care.
School Development
5.17
We
encourage the Welsh Government to continue to draw attention to the
potential of the new Erasmus+ programme in support of school
development with a view to promoting bids which can have a
catalytic and systemic effect within Wales. We noted the
growing concern in schools to promote the internationalisation of
the curriculum and of pupil experience in Wales. Erasmus+
offers opportunities to support school reform in this perspective
as well as providing incentives to promote organised school
exchanges. The impressive success of the schools initiative
based at Cardiff City Council (International School Linking)
provides a valuable basis to encourage parallel initiatives in
other parts of Wales.
5.18
Working
through the present regional consortia, which also involve
Directors of Education in all Welsh local authorities, we consider
that the Welsh Government should continue to stress the importance
of developing internationalisation of curricula and pupil
experience in our schools. There is scope thereby to
contribute to implementation of the Donaldson
recommendations in terms of promoting citizenship education and
thereby also implementation of Welsh Government policy.
5.19
Participation
in some of the European platforms and networks for educational
cooperation to identify and share good practice would be also of
value and needs to be actively pursued by the Welsh Government and
its education partners. Consideration is now being given
within the Welsh Government to following up the conclusions from
the workshop we held in February 2016, jointly with the British
Council, on Erasmus+ to give a new momentum of the initiation of
quality bids from Wales in preparation for the 2017-2020 increased
budget available from the EU to the programme. We noted in
this regard the large number of initiatives proposed and successful
in Scotland, strongly supported by the Scottish Government.
There are lessons to be learnt from Scottish experience in this
regard.
5.20
The
drive for internationalisation of the school curricula in Wales
should involve a determined effort to exploit Erasmus+
opportunities to support the Welsh Government’s plans to
improve the quality of foreign language teaching provisions in
Wales. A further impetus to participation in Erasmus+ by all
Welsh universities and further education institutions will have
important implications for foreign language teaching, both in
respect of the content of joint inter-university programmes of
study and the inward and outward mobility of students to and from
Wales. A special report on this aspect is being fed into the
work of the Modern Foreign Language Steering Group recently
established by the Minister for Education and Skills.
5.21
We
therefore advocated the need for further joint exploration of these
possibilities, with the support of the British Council, and with
the active engagement of Welsh universities and colleges.
Some of the school centres of excellence could in principle be
supported through the Erasmus+ programme as focal points for the
training and development of foreign language teaching.
Similarly Erasmus+ funding could be explored in support of the
mentoring scheme established with Universities whereby under
graduates spend time with learners in the school system.
5.22
We
consider that an up to date all-Wales review of foreign language
teaching provisions by the incoming Welsh Government would be
helpful to ensure that there is a continuing momentum behind its
Global Futures initiative and for Wales to build on its very
special position as a bilingual and bi-cultural nation, exploiting
its distinctive assets.
5.23
As
well as the immediate need and opportunity to scale up Welsh
involvement in Erasmus+, there could also be scope to exploit the
full potential of the new European Fund for Strategic Investment
(EFSI), announced in 2015 by European Commission President Juncker,
which can provide fresh investment in education as a central pillar
of economic and social development (see earlier in paragraph
5.13)
5.24
In
2015, we noted that 1 in 5 European adults struggle with basic
reading and writing skills. 1 in 4 is unable to use a
computer, write a letter or send an e-mail. Investment in
education is widely recommended throughout the EU as a necessary
safety net against social exclusion. The situation in this
respect in Wales is also considered to be a matter of concern and a
priority of Welsh Government. Consideration of long-term
remedial solutions is therefore of vital importance, and also a
crucial factor in the Wales-wide effort to combat rising levels of
poverty and social exclusion.
5.25
We
have noted that the EFSI can support private-public partnerships
and benefit education in a number of ways; building and modernising
school buildings, by rolling out broadband, by promoting research
and projects that bring together universities and companies.
In 2014, for example, the EIB invested 4.8 billion euros in
education, including projects supporting primary schools in France
and kindergartens in Belgium. From 2000 to 2014 EIB
investment was around 31 billion euros.
5.26
The
EFSI gives an opportunity for Wales to develop smart projects which
create fresh and innovative investment in education. The
complementary possibilities between EFSI and the EU Structural
Policies and Funds could be combined with exploitation of the
Erasmus+ programme in the overall EU strategy to drive educational
reform and better practice across Europe. Erasmus + opportunities
to build strategic partnerships to review European wide experience
of reforms in education, training and youth policies need to be
promoted actively by the Welsh Government. In Wales we need
to spell out and exploit these synergies to reinforce our own
strategic efforts and seek to make a significant impact.
5.27
We
understand that the Welsh Government is actively reviewing its
strategy for post 16 education and training policies and provisions
in Wales. The EU’s Cohesion Policy, including its
Structural Funds, has benefitted Wales substantially since
2000. It is clear that by 2020 we will need to demonstrate to
the Welsh public the difference that this continuing investment has
made to Wales and for Welsh people, most recently for example the
substantial ESF support to the Welsh apprenticeship scheme.
We share the concern of Welsh Government to clarify and streamline
the choice of tracks which young people are able to follow in their
increasingly difficult transition from education to the world of
work. Whether through apprenticeship schemes, further
vocational education and training, introduction to work experience
and entrepreneurial projects, or pathways to higher education, the
crucial point for us in Wales as elsewhere in Europe is to build a
system which enables the individual to make progress and, if he or
she wishes, move between the available tracks with the necessary
recognition and credit to build his or her own career
pathway.
5.28
The
revised thrust of the Erasmus+ programme, with its significant
vocational education and youth volunteering strands should now be
seen as complementing the provisions of the ESF. It provides
a new opportunity to explore the specific added value of EU policy
funding in respect of the main lines of the developing Welsh
Government Strategy for young people to transform their
possibilities in our two-speed labour market. The workshop we
organised, jointly with the Welsh Government and the British
Council, on 22 February 2016 highlighted these opportunities and we
hope will lead to new bids in 2016 onwards.
5.29
Greater
and much more visible parity of treatment between those on
technical/vocational tracks and those pursuing a more academic
future is crucial, though this has been widely recognised for over
a century with little result. The EU policy funding
streams can and do support such a rebalancing. There is
therefore scope to review and promote from a Welsh perspective, the
complementary provisions of ESF and Erasmus+ in this regard.
We have sought to encourage more active exploration of these
possibilities particularly in synergy with ESF planning and in
communicating stories of good practice which combine ESF and
Erasmus+ funding.
5.30
Moreover,
the EU’s Youth Guarantee Scheme, ensuring that unemployed
young people receive offers of employment, apprenticeship,
traineeship or continuing education, is another example of the EU
wide concern to combat continuing widespread youth unemployment
across Europe. This fits well with the Welsh Government’s
Youth Engagement and Progression Framework which is providing a
structure to help local authorities to embed the principles of the
framework in their work and thus produce a systemic effect to
respond to the needs of young people at grassroots level. An update
assessment of the value to Wales of engagement in this EU wide
scheme should be fed into the Welsh Government’s planning of
its post 16 youth strategy building on the promising work already
in train in Wales.
5.31
For
these reasons too, we recommended to Ministers that a special event
be arranged in early 2016 to focus on the thrust of the developing
Welsh strategy and to pinpoint the synergies between Welsh
Government funding and the different streams of EU policy funding
in this regard. Special regard should be paid in this context
to the potential funding available for youth work and youth
volunteering which could contribute to confidence building and
empowerment of young people. This would also then enable the
new incoming Welsh Government to look forward to 2020, assess
progress made and determine the key areas requiring more connected
funding backup to deliver its strategy.
5.32
The
EU has an ambitious agenda for modernising and internationalising
universities and higher education institutions throughout
Europe. The Welsh Government shares this objective as an
important and central factor in its own agenda for the development
of Wales. Welsh universities have echoed to us their strong
commitment to this strategy, and the very central role they play in
Wales in promoting this agenda to the economic and social benefit
of Wales.
5.33
While
taking account of the interaction and synergies between the EU
funding programmes and Welsh Government initiatives, we recognise
that it is also vitally important to ensure there is full advantage
taken of UK funding programmes, in particular, to ensure that Wales
is securing its share of the programmes operated by Research
Councils UK (RCUK). This is a significant source of funding
for research for Welsh universities and the RCUK, combined with
European funding and WG funding, need to form an integrated funding
package to ensure that Welsh universities are able to compete both
nationally and internationally.
5.34
The
EU’s Erasmus programme has played a significant role in
promoting this strategic agenda throughout Europe, and indeed more
widely. A centrepiece of the EU 2020 strategy, the Erasmus+
Programme involves support for the creation of cross national
strategic partnerships and knowledge alliances, both of which in
turn encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and the
mobilisation of universities to work with each other and with the
world of industry and commerce. The extensive participation
of universities throughout Europe which have signed the European
Charter for Higher Education has instigated new and clearer
agreements between institutions and partners.
5.35
Joint
initiatives via Erasmus+ benefit from capacity-building funding and
initiatives can help drive policy reform in this field. Welsh
Universities have participated in the Erasmus programme since its
launch in 1985. The huge expansion in the Commission’s
2014-2020 budget for the Erasmus+ programme, especially for the
years 2017-2020, and the strategic priority accorded to it by the
EU provides a new opportunity for the Welsh Government and
universities to take stock and review their participation in the
programme. This stocktaking could provide a clearer
all-Wales view of the strategic value of investment in
internationalisation so as to enhance the attractiveness of Wales
and Welsh universities on the world stage. There is a need
for more evidence from all higher education institutions in Wales
of the strategic arrangements they make in this regard and its
impact within Wales.
5.36
We
are pleased that as a result of one of our early recommendations a
conference was held in Cardiff last November 2015, drawing
together Welsh higher education with Welsh Government to focus
together on their combined strategies to promote
internationalisation of study and teaching. Both the Minister
for Education and Skills and the Minister for Finance and
Government Business participated actively in the conference,
indicating their strong support, which they have reiterated in
response to our recommendations in our interim report.
5.37
Such
internationalisation of teaching and study is of course also
strongly linked to by the EU’s strategic support for
investment in research, innovation and technological
development. Knowledge alliances for both teaching and
research on an inter-university basis boost cooperation and add
considerable value to the student experience and the curriculum
vitae of students when they seek jobs in the increasing globalised
market. The anticipated further growth in the numbers of
Erasmus graduates from 3.5 million in 2015 to 5.5 million by 2020
indicates the global outreach of the programme, as well as
providing clear evidence of the overall employability success rate
of former Erasmus students in securing good jobs in the labour
market. Student and staff mobility has expanded massively
throughout Europe as a result of the Erasmus programme, made
possible by the institutional commitments of individual
universities to recognise the experience abroad in their degrees or
qualifications. The growth of joint degrees, joint Masters
degrees more recently, and credit transfer arrangements has further
contributed to the impact of the Erasmus programme.
5.38
The
Erasmus brand is already well recognised throughout Europe and,
with the success of Erasmus Mundus, in other regions of the world
too. For this reason, we have advocated hooking the new
Global Wales initiative promoted by Welsh Government, in
collaboration with Universities Wales, to the Erasmus brand so as
to add to the reputation and brand image of Wales and Welsh
universities in the world. The plans for Global Wales
and its initial selection of regions in the world to target for
special cooperation could also be taken into account in this
perspective.
5.39
The
key to long term success is clearly for universities in Wales to
embed this commitment to internationalisation in their mission and
governance, with strong leadership to set themselves flexible but
specific targets to make the quantum leap forward in their success
ratings. There is much to build on our good experience in
Wales, but there is still scope for more strategic investment by
all our higher and further education institutions. For this
reason, we have recommended that the following 4 steps would be
helpful:
(i)
Like
the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government could explicitly
spell out to the Welsh public its own interest and support for the
pursuit of strategic inter-university alliances by Welsh
institutions, and encourage them to scale up participation in
Erasmus+, noting in particular the significant additional funding
available for the programme over the next 2/3 years.
(ii)
We
recommend that the Welsh Government invites the universities and
other higher education institutions to present to it an annual
report of their initiatives and the impact of their European and
International partnerships, so that it is in a position to have an
all-Wales appreciation of these developments and may assess if
further incentives are required in the system, as has been the case
in Scotland. We understand that a mechanism already exists
for such reporting through institutional submissions of Strategic
Planning and Engagement Documents (SPEDs) to HEFCW.
Universities have indicated their willingness to build on this
arrangement with more comprehensive information. We believe
that it is important to make the Welsh public much more aware and
therefore more supportive of the strengths we have in Wales in our
university and higher education sector, and their potential
contribution to the economic, social and cultural development of
Wales.
(iii)
We
also recommend that the Welsh Government could take steps to
further encourage and support initiatives taken by Further
Education colleges to participate in Erasmus+, highlighting those
schemes (notably the successful EU funded initiative based at
Merthyr College) which also involve close collaboration with
industry and commerce both within Wales and abroad. Some good
examples of such initiatives already exist and we recommend that
the Welsh Government should intensify its collaboration with
ColegauCymru and other partners, building on the conclusions of the
recent workshop held in Cardiff on Erasmus+ with a view to
encouraging further quality bids to the programme over the next 2/3
years.
(iv)
Careful
consideration could be given to linking the location of Welsh
inter-university (especially Erasmus) programmes and the Welsh
Government’s own strategic interest in building cooperation
with some specific partner regions in Europe. The Cardiff
– Leuven and the Swansea – Grenoble partnerships
provide excellent examples which could be hooked into wider Welsh
efforts to cooperate with Flanders and the Rhone–Alpes
Regions. Indeed, there is scope for the Welsh Government to
review once again the opportunity to participate as a strong
partner of choice in the 4 Motor Regions (Rhone,- Alpes, Lombardy,
Catalonia and Baden-Württemberg). This could be
given a considerable boost by joint proactive planning between
Welsh Government and Welsh universities and a renewal of
exploratory discussions with the other regions.
5.40
The
noxious cocktail of multiple deprivation, joblessness and social
exclusion currently afflicts most corners of Europe and has proved
especially damaging in this continuing period of recession.
The fight against growth levels of poverty and social exclusion in
the EU has led to changes in the EU Regulations for the period
2014-2020. In particular, the European Social Fund (ESF), is
now obliged to set aside at least 20% of its funding to combat
poverty. Also for the first time, the ESF can make provision
to support investment in early childhood development, an essential
component of any comprehensive attack on poverty as Welsh
Government has done with the Parents, Childcare and Employment
(PaCE) project.
5.41
We
have discussed these issues with the WLGA (and its 4 European
Regional Engagement Teams) and with the representatives of the
third sector and WCVA and we recognise the wealth of experience and
commitment existing in Wales to help drive and implement the Welsh
Government’s attack on poverty levels. We recognise too
the concern expressed in the private sector to contribute their own
social responsibility efforts into the overall efforts throughout
Wales that need to be made to help make a real
difference.
5.42
The
conference we organised jointly with the WCVA last year (para 4.2)
focused attention on these issues. We identified a real
opportunity which combines the experience and efforts of the third
and private sectors with that of local authorities. The
reinforcement of social partnerships is of critical importance if
we are to reach those most in need at the grass root level in both
our urban and rural areas.
5.43
We
have therefore planned a conference in March 2016, with the support
and participation of the Minister for Communities and Tackling
Poverty, to take stock of the all Wales anti-poverty strategy and
to assess the effectiveness and potential for combining EU and
Welsh policies and funding to make a real difference. This
has involved commissioning contributions to take account of both
the EU Cohesion Policy and the EU Rural Development Programme
(including Leader) and their present and planned
actions.
5.44
Wales
has the second highest rate of child poverty after London in the
whole of the UK. Forty percent of the children in poverty in
Wales live in workless households. The Welsh Government
recognises the importance of investment in early childhood
development. This is the crucial foundation period for a
start to lifelong learning and the opening up of the life-chances
of the individual. We have noted the work of the Alliance for
Investing in Children UK of which Wales is a member through
Children in Wales which participates in a wider joint action led by
the EU Alliance for Investing in Children coalition. Their
joint action plan aims “to ensure effective implementation of
the European Commission’s recommendation – investing in
children, breaking the cycle of disadvantage by facilitating
stakeholder cooperation at EU and national level and support
effective advocacy and communication activities”. This
recommendation provides helpful guidance to all EU member states on
how to tackle child poverty and promote the well-being of
children. There is much to learn from this comparative
experience especially to mitigate the risk of policy and social
exclusion for disadvantaged families with dependent
children.
5.45
The
EU and Welsh strategic objectives both require and promote action
on this point as a priority objective, with the European Social
Fund (ESF) in particular including provisions for the first time
for support in this field. A special report on action to date
should be fed into the overall review of the anti-poverty strategy
in Wales.
5.46
Last
year we also identified that there is scope to exploit the
EU’s Employment and Social Innovation Fund (EaSI), which sits
alongside the ESF. We have taken steps to encourage Welsh
bids for the next phase of EaSI funding. Furthermore, WEFO
has been invited to present its assessment of and plans for the use
of the ESF in respect of the 20% provision in the ESF Regulation to
the March conference we describe above.
5.47
We
urged already in our interim report that the Welsh
Government’s commitment to implement the Andrews
report
on Poverty and Culture should be taken fully into account. In
this perspective we recommend that the 6 pioneer areas designated
by Welsh Government to implement the findings of the Andrews report
should be carefully considered for the next phase of ESF funding
and could be seen as a strong example of targeting EU policy
funding on a specific Welsh Government priority.
5.48
Following
our consultations in Brussels last year, we were concerned that
Wales no longer participated in the European Anti-Poverty network
which shares good policy ideas and practice across the EU and acts
as a sounding board for the development of EU policy initiatives on
this crucial subject. We are consulting further to encourage
the designation of an appropriate Welsh partner, also taking into
account the positive experience of the Scotland Anti-Poverty
Alliance. Discussions to this end will be held in the
framework of the Anti-Poverty Conference which will take place in
March and we hope that this will lead to strong and renewed
connections with experience and good practice elsewhere in
Europe.
5.49
While
it is early days in implementation of the 2014-2020 ETC programmes
we have noted some positive action by WEFO to promote these
important programmes in Wales and to encourage collaboration and
partnership working. Synergies with other funding streams are
also important and we comment on the ways that other European
regions have approached this in paras 5.6 and 5.7.
5.50
The
Ireland/Wales programme is now well established and has produced
some good results. However, the other ETC programmes also
offer considerable opportunities for Wales and it is important to
build on the momentum built up in 2007-13 by placing further
emphasis on those during the 2014-2020 programming period.
This is particularly the case for the Atlantic Area programme where
marine and maritime links will be a feature of the programme and
for the larger North-West Europe programme which targets
transnational economic development and enables a leader/follower
approach aimed at reducing disparities between the various
regions. As with other programmes, there is a requirement for
a thematic approach to the promotion of opportunities for
ETC.
5.51
We
welcome the early engagement of the FE and HE sectors and by local
government in the Ireland/Wales programme in particular but more
needs to be done over the coming months to engage with other
sectoral interests. It will be equally important to turn the
undoubted interest in the ETC programmes into quality collaborative
proposals with clear aims and objectives. This is even more
important going forward with the increased focus on results in the
2014-2020 programmes. It will therefore be important for bids to
demonstrate a clear need for ETC intervention together with a
genuine transnational requirement. WEFO clearly has an
important role to play in addressing this challenge and will need
to work with the UK Government to ensure greater levels of
engagement and consistency by UK contact points.
5.52
Policy
networks are required to identify priorities and to explore the
obvious Maritime opportunities under the ETC programmes if the
programmes are to be successful. Peer learning is also an
area to exploit. We strongly endorse the need to engage with
the local authority Regional Engagement Teams and to create a link
with UK Contact Points to impart information and to ensure that
regional priorities in Wales are widely understood. In
developing international partnerships it is also important to
utilise those regions where Wales already has established
connections e.g. the 4 Motor Regions.
6.1
The
close fit of Welsh Government Strategy and policies with the EU
2020 Strategy and its various funding streams, and also between the
EU funding streams themselves, makes it essential to exploit all
the opportunities available to Wales. The increasing
pressures on funding and uncertain medium term financial prospects
reinforce the need for Wales to exploit imaginatively the variety
of EU policy funding streams to best effect.
6.2
All
the partners throughout Wales with whom we have held consultations
have stressed strongly to us that the successful development of
synergies between the EU and Welsh policies and funding streams
requires a more joined up approach across Government, as well as
well organised, and structured collaboration with the different
partners in Wales, ensuring the active engagement of the public,
private and third sectors and the Higher Education and Further
Education community. This point has been further emphasised
in their responses to our interim report.
6.3
Encouragingly,
we have already found a widespread determination to identify and
exploit a much wider range of opportunities for EU policy funding
support than has previously been the case. Most departments
in Welsh Government seem to be aware, though to differing degrees,
of the relevance and potential of EU policy and funding streams in
their work. However, we have also observed that this
determination and awareness needs to be translated more
consistently into a well and widely understood operational priority
for European engagement and exploitation of European
opportunities.
6.4
Where
this priority has been recognised, we have seen that some policy
departments have achieved encouraging initial results in
identifying possible synergies of policy and funding that could
advance the objectives of their department.
6.5
As
an example under the portfolio of the Deputy Minister for Culture,
Sport and Tourism, we noted that there was already an
organisational and staffing commitment in the Creative Industries
Department to dedicate attention to the opportunities available
from the EU Creative Europe Programme. This dedicated unit
has taken steps to make cultural organisations in Wales aware of
other EU programmes which can enrich cultural activity in
Wales. The wider EU programme possibilities for support for
culture and for the cultural industries in Wales are now
recognised, together with the need to exploit synergies between
them, and we understand that these will be pursued in future
through the main policy department.
6.6
The
most promising exemplar we identified in Welsh Government, to which
we draw attention, is the Health Department which applies a number
of principles in its internal organisation which we recommend for
wider application in the Welsh administration. We set out in
Appendix D information about the approach adopted by the Health
Department.
6.7
The
above examples are, however, operating within individual
departments. Early in our remit we also identified that
synergies could be enhanced by more regular dialogue between Welsh
Government Departments in relation to their European
responsibilities. To this end we encouraged the development
of an inter-departmental European ‘network’, involving
officials with specific European responsibilities within their
portfolios. The network, which has met several times, has
already undertaken a mapping exercise to identify the expertise and
support arrangements that exist in Wales and has produced an
information grid on EU policy initiatives and associated funding
streams that we are publishing alongside this report (www.wefo.wales.gov.uk.).
The grid has been constructed in order to facilitate regular
updating to reflect the latest calls for proposals and to show
progress in accessing these programmes. The various
programmes of potential interest to Wales that are contained in it
are listed at Appendix E.
6.8
With
the help of the European network we have also assembled a
preliminary picture of existing activity and successes under these
programmes. This is set out at Appendix F. This will
require further updating on a regular basis.
6.9
A
key part of our work has been to consider the ways in which Wales
currently seeks to maximise synergies between EU and Welsh
Government policies and compare them with relevant European
exemplars. In this respect, one of the key messages we have
received from our discussions with stakeholders is that within
Wales we have a good basis of expertise, enthusiasm and experience
in relation to EU policy funding. This translates into
significant levels of activity and has delivered a number of
successful outcomes. However, other than in the case of
specific areas such as Cohesion and Agricultural policy funding,
the partners in Wales consider that the level of strategic focus
and coherence necessary to deliver the maximum long term benefit to
Wales needs to be enhanced.
6.10
Other
European regions which we studied appear to have more mature
mechanisms for translating high level political support into the
identification of their strategic priorities and for then following
up on EU funding opportunities through effective
coordination. We found a consensus amongst these regions that
a significant, proactive physical presence in Brussels is an
important and necessary investment for success. Networking
and constructive engagement with the other economic, social,
educational, research and cultural development organisations in
Europe is seen as a necessary way to galvanise and achieve good
results and to build partnerships which could make successful
bids. A predominant focus on short term returns and numerical
target setting was not seen as the most effective way
forward.
6.11
Importantly,
the deployment of proactive networking through appropriately
qualified and motivated staff in Brussels is considered by these
regions to be significantly more effective, in terms of return on
investment, rather than simply signposting activities carried out
in the home region. We recognise that both are
required. The Brussels-based offices of the regions we
examined were well resourced and had clear authority and priority
remits from their home region. This empowers them to select
and focus their activities, in Brussels, on pursuing priority
objectives, and to make relevant commitments to further action and
to engage with partners. This also enables them to receive
backing for the involvement of specialist support from within their
home Government structures e.g. for temporary secondments or
special staff visits to reinforce their work so as to participate
in European Networks as necessary.
6.12
The
Welsh Government office in Brussels is already well placed to play
a greater, pivotal, role in effecting the more joined-up approach
required. It is strategically located and well equipped with
facilities for the holding of meetings and networking events.
It forms part of a wider community of “regional”
offices in Brussels, and enjoys especially close relations with the
offices of Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, we
consider that it could and should form a key part of a more
strategic approach by Wales if it were empowered through an
appropriate prioritisation and operational framework set by Welsh
Government.
6.13
This
office also contains the representation in Brussels of the Welsh
Higher Education sector (WHEB) and the WLGA. Both
organisations, in their responses to our interim report, have
highlighted the potential benefits for collaboration that this
co-location could deliver if it was set within a more coherent
prioritisation and operational framework.
6.14
We
consider that the role of WEFO in supporting Welsh European Policy
funding would benefit from a fresh re-examination in the light of
the overall recommendations of our report, in particular
reconsideration of WEFO’s operational relationship with the
Welsh Governments policy departments. We recognise the
accumulated expertise over the years within WEFO of managing
Structural and Cohesion policy funding is an important asset.
More recently responsibility was given to WEFO to provide
management support for the development of the EU Horizon 2020
programme.
6.15
In
particular we recommend that the operational interface between WEFO
and Welsh Government policy departments be reviewed and
strengthened. The need to reinforce handling of EU policy
funding within the different policy departments of the Welsh
Government administration to develop the linkages between them and
WEFO is recognised. With this in view we consider it is now
necessary to clarify and define new bridges of policy
understanding, implementation and communications between these
policy departments and WEFO. This question should be referred
for the necessary detailed examination to the European Policy
Group. The valuable role currently played by WEFO as
secretariat to the European network group also offers a good
way of reinforcing such linkages and of ensuring the flow of
relevant intelligence within and from the network.
6.16
Even
where successful outcomes of European funding are being achieved,
we consider that there is scope to maximise the opportunities to
communicate those successes and their further policy potential both
within Government and to key stakeholders and the wider
community. What is needed in our view is a strengthened
communications effort that draws together across Welsh Government
and WEFO the combined impact of the range of projects and
interventions at regional or sectoral levels.
7.1
In
formulating our recommendations to Welsh Government, the two key
conclusions that emerge from our analysis are as
follows:
(i)
Wales
requires a priority driven, strategically focused and clearly
integrated management and delivery structure so as to derive
maximum benefit from the synergies between Welsh Government and EU
policy priorities and to capitalise on the high level political
support within Welsh Government for European engagement.
(ii)
There
are useful exemplars in other European regions from which Wales can
learn in order to design and build a management and delivery
structure that responds to Welsh needs.
7.2
We
therefore present below a series of recommendations for
consideration by Welsh Government to address this challenge.
It would clearly be for a new Administration to determine the
precise organisational arrangements to introduce. We have
described the key principles we feel should apply, the key elements
that a future operational mechanism should contain and offered one
example of how this might be implemented. The key elements
are shown graphically below.
7.3
The
3 key principles are:
·
Prioritisation.
The identification of the key strategic priorities that are of
importance to Wales with the associated creation of the
intelligence gathering and analysis capability necessary to make
the appropriate recommendations and selections.
·
Management. The creation of the
management structures within Welsh Government that will endorse the
key priorities and facilitate mobilisation of the appropriate
resource within Welsh Government itself and from the wider
community of partners in Wales.
·
Resources. The ability to mobilise
the appropriate levels of resource and expertise within Wales and
through Wales House in order to deliver the agreed priority
outcomes required.
7.4
We
recommend:
1.
A
review and restatement of the Welsh Government’s EU strategy,
incorporating a European Prioritisation Framework which would set
out clearly a limited number of key strategic areas as the highest
priorities for Welsh Government targeting and support in the period
up to 2020.
·
We
consider that a restatement of the Welsh Government’s EU
Strategy from 2016-2020 is necessary so as to set out the main
lines of development for Wales to improve its economic and social
performance over the coming period.
·
Such
a strategic restatement should incorporate a European
Prioritisation Framework which would enable the Welsh
administration and its partners in Wales to focus on the most
crucial priorities in this next period.
·
This
framework should be determined by considering carefully the fit
between Welsh policy priorities, existing strengths and capability
within Wales, and the European Union’s 2020 strategy and
priorities as shown below.
·
The
prioritisation process should be defined across the span of Welsh
Government strategy to provide a clear and unambiguous focus for
pursuing and exploiting EU policy funding opportunities. The
clarity of this policy commitment and priority setting could then
be reflected
in the mechanisms employed by the relevant policy departments in
the Welsh administration to target those EU policies and their
funding which impact on their portfolios. In this way it would
serve to enhance the Welsh Government’s own strategy of
development and action plans.
·
While
it will be for the next Government to determine the priority areas
on which to focus, our work and discussions indicate that there are
likely to be significant opportunities in areas such as Smart
Cities, Life Science and Healthcare, the impact of an ageing
population and disaffection amongst young people, particularly
where this might be addressed by early years interventions.
Wales has strengths, and therefore much to contribute, in these
areas which are clearly amongst the most important to the European
Commission currently.
·
The
need for prioritisation at a strategic level also derives from the
sheer scale and range of Europe (more than 20 high level policy,
programme and funding areas each with multiple sub
divisions). Only by a rigorous process of prioritising those
areas with maximum potential for benefit to Wales can the level of
resource that Wales is able to bring to bear have any realistic
chance of success.
·
Such
a European Prioritisation Framework should aim to identify key
thematic areas which would provide a strategic priority context
over the period up to 2020. This reflects the timescales
necessary, in our view, for successful European engagement.
It should be reviewed systematically and periodically by Welsh
Government in the light of that medium term
context.
·
A
key element in the establishment of the framework will be the
intelligence and analysis that underpins it. The support team
referred to below would have responsibility for providing much of
this through engagement with stakeholder groups and networks within
Wales and Brussels
2.
The
confirmation by the new post-election Welsh Government of the
European Policy Group, comprising members at the most senior levels
of Government, chaired by the Minister designated with
responsibility for EU policy funding with a remit
to:
·
Provide,
through senior Government leadership, the visible expression of the
Government’s political commitment to a well coordinated
implementation of Welsh Government strategy and a determination to
exploit all synergies possible between Welsh and EU policy funding
opportunities.
·
Establish,
promulgate and implement the European Prioritisation Framework to
cover the remaining period of implementation of the EU 2020
Strategy.
·
Promote
the necessary cooperation between departments within Welsh
Government to promote joined-up delivery of the chosen priorities
and the coordinated exploitation of EU and Welsh Government funding
to this end.
·
Ensure
seamless coordination and communication between policy departments
in Welsh Government, external partners and Welsh Government staff
in Brussels to demonstrate an all Wales team effort in pursuit of
the chosen priorities.
·
Arrange
regular contacts with senior representatives of the public, private
and third sectors and Higher and Further Education to review
collaboration and determine ways of working together more
effectively.
·
Consider
in particular how private sector engagement in EU policies and
programmes can be increased. This will be particularly
important in the context of the development of City Regions in
Wales.
·
Adequately
resource the support team and draw on its input, and that of other
partners, to help implement the European Prioritisation
Framework.
·
Establish
and endorse a short term tactical action plan to coordinate
resource planning and to empower appropriate activity in and via
Wales House. This should include proposals for secondments
from Welsh Government to the European Commission.
·
Arrange
for scrutiny of the effectiveness and impact of the implementation
and delivery arrangements set out in the European Prioritisation
Framework.
3.
Further
development of the new European network group and its expansion to
include a wider range of stakeholders.
·
Its
remit should be to promote and facilitate greater awareness and
engagement in, and across, the range of EU policies and programmes
including the maintenance and updating of the EU funding
grid. This European network group should receive direction
from and report to the European Policy Group.
·
The
current European network, drawn from Welsh Government departments,
should in the future also involve the participation of appropriate
representatives from the private sector, higher and further
education, WLGA and the third sector so as to promote an
all–Wales team effort so as to pursue potential opportunities
for Wales.
4.
The
establishment of a support team to underpin the work of the
European Policy Group, drawing together expertise from key policy
officials, WEFO and Welsh Government staff in
Brussels
·
This
team would have a strong footprint within both Wales and the Welsh
Government team in Brussels.
·
Its
role would be to engage with key partners both in Wales and in
Wales House in Brussels in order to establish the intelligence that
would underpin the European Prioritisation Framework and establish
the tactical action plan that would empower the necessary follow
up activity in Brussels
·
In
this way, the European Policy Group should be equipped to reinforce
the work of the selected policy departments to pursue the
designated priorities. It could also identify the needs of
promoters to be provided with technical assistance in the
preparation of quality bids.
5.
Strengthening
the role of the Welsh Government office in Brussels as the key
focus of tactical implementation, a key source of intelligence to
inform strategic prioritisation, and empowered to drive follow up
action in pursuit of Welsh Government priorities.
·
As
well as Welsh Government staff, Wales House already contains
representation from the Welsh Higher Education sector (WHEB) and
the WLGA. Both Government and partners’ resource and
expertise could be supported by short term project secondments as
required and as defined by the European Policy Group.
·
The
aim should be to develop a team of suitably skilled and experienced
staff to enable the office to play and facilitate a more proactive
role in effecting the more joined up Team Wales approach
required.
6.
Consideration
of the future management arrangements required to strengthen the
overall coordination of the range of EU Policy funding streams
available to Wales.
·
We
consider that it is important for the incoming Welsh Government to
have a fresh comprehensive understanding of the organisational
arrangements in place to implement its EU Strategy and the
accompanying European Prioritisation Framework in the perspective
of the EU 2020 Strategy.
·
This
review should take into account the observations made with regard
to WEFO in paras 6.14 and 6.15 above and in particular the role
that WEFO could play in facilitating implementation in the period
up to 2020.
7.
Welsh
Government should continue to communicate widely good examples to
illustrate the impact, potential or actual, of Welsh/European
ventures and the difference they can and do make to
Wales.
·
One
of the essential keys to more effective communication about the
significance of EU policy funding to Wales will be for the Welsh
Government, especially Ministers, and its partners to take every
opportunity to spell out to the public the added value of the EU
contribution to Wales in both policy and financial terms. This
would also contribute substantially to ensuring a mature and
well-informed public discussion within Wales on the benefits of the
EU.
·
In
the immediate future steps should be taken to develop further the
communication arrangements which contain information ‘and
good stories’ from across Welsh Government Departments about
the combined impact of EU/Welsh interventions at regional, local
and sectoral levels in Wales.
8.1
The
primary responsibility of our original remit as EU Funding
Ambassadors has been discharged by the production of this
report. We have taken the opportunity over the past year to
encourage colleagues within Welsh Government and partner
organisations in Wales to engage more actively in pursuit of a more
joined up approach, promoting the necessary synergies between the
programming and funding arrangements in Wales.
8.2
We
do not consider that there is at present a case to support a
continuing role for Ambassadors with our current remit. As
and when the present and future Welsh Government decides whether or
not to implement all or part of our report’s recommendations,
it would be appropriate at that stage for the Welsh Government to
consider the case to set up an independent review capacity. The
main precondition for successful involvement of any such
independent review arrangement would be to have the assurance that
it is fully supported by the Welsh Government, firmly anchored with
the Minister responsible for EU Affairs, and supportive of the
scrutiny role of Welsh Government. Such an independent review
should of course be organised to ensure full access from the outset
to the European Policy Group and its work. Selection of
individual/s to play such an independent assessment role could
usefully be determined in the light of the areas of expertise which
are required to examine the priority thematic areas decided by
Welsh Government.
8.3
We
would like to acknowledge the strong support we have received from
Minister Jane Hutt from the outset of our remit. She has
taken an important lead within Welsh Government in encouraging
effective use of all EU Policy Funding opportunities available to
Wales. She has also set an excellent example by showcasing
good stories of successful and promising projects of significance
to Wales. We thank her for her constant encouragement in our
work and in particular for respecting and valuing our
independence.
8.4
Finally,
we also wish to acknowledge the commitment and collaboration of
Paul Smith and his colleagues from WEFO who have acted efficiently
and supportively as secretariat for our work as Ambassadors.
We wish also to thank Nia Lewis from Welsh Government in
Brussels whose advice and contacts in the European Commission and
with the different European networks and platforms have been of
great help to us in fulfilling our remit.
Appendix
A
Background
Recent reports of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs
Committee (“Wales’ role in the EU decision-making
process” - March 2014) and the Enterprise and Business
Committee (“EU funding opportunities 2014-2020” - July
2014) identified the need to engage in and promote further the
EU’s directly managed programmes in Wales. In
considering these recommendations the Minister for Finance and
Government Business has agreed that a small panel (3 members drawn
from the public, private and third sectors) of EU Funding
Ambassadors (Ambassadors) be established.
Terms of Reference
The Ambassadors will draw on their personal experience and work
within their respective sectors to promote and maximise
opportunities presented by the European Union’s directly
managed funding programmes for 2014-2020. They will also advise
Ministers over engagement issues more generally with a view to
increasing the profile of EU funds within Wales.
They
will:
·
Identify
and promote integration and advise on how best to maximise
synergies with other EU and domestic funding streams and links with
the Economic Prioritisation Framework;
·
Gather
intelligence, from within their respective networks and beyond, to
inform their dialogue with Ministers around relevant EU funding
opportunities;
·
Offer
Ministers perspectives on how Wales can be more successful in
maximising EU funding under these programmes and how opportunities
can be made more accessible;
·
Promote
opportunities and encourage participation across all
sectors;
·
Advise
on how Wales can maximise opportunities under the new ETC
programmes, including building collaboration with international
partners.
In advising on these matters, Ambassadors will need to consider
existing expertise and capacity building needs, communications,
publicity and co-ordination arrangements and how best to overcome
barriers to engagement.
Links with Programme Monitoring Committees
The Ambassadors will work with the two Programming Monitoring
Committees in Wales, which have formal legal responsibility for the
European Structural and Investment Funds in Wales for 2014-2020
(i.e. the European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund,
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European
Maritime and Fisheries Fund) and for the Ireland – Wales
programme 2014-2020 respectively, in order to identify and promote
integration and maximise synergies across the funding
streams.
Meetings
Much of the Ambassadors’ work will be undertaken through
networking within their sectors. Advisory meetings will take
place with the Minister for Finance and Government Business on a
quarterly basis.
The first of these meetings will take place in November 2014 and it
is anticipated that the panel will remain in existence for
18–24 months or to such time as the Minister and the panel
consider that the work has been concluded.
Ad hoc papers will be prepared by the Secretariat as necessary to
help facilitate the work of the panel. The Secretariat will
also prepare a short summary of each meeting.
Appendix
B
HE/FE
Sector
We have received endorsements of our interim report and of our
proposals from Universities Wales, the Higher Education Funding
Council for Wales (HEFCW) and ColegauCymru.
We have been pleased to work with the HE sector during our time as
EU Funding Ambassadors and have been extremely grateful for
their proactive engagement and in particular for the positive
involvement in the Internationalising HE conference that we
promoted in November 2015.
Universities Walessupports
all of our recommendations and acknowledges, in particular, our
sentiments that Welsh and EU policies should be aligned and, where
appropriate, synergies between funding streams at regional,
national and European level should be exploited for greater
impact. They also welcome our acknowledgement over the
central role that universities play in delivering EU policies and
accessing EU funding in Wales.
Universities Wales acknowledges the strategic importance of the
Horizon 2020 programme to Welsh universities in continuing to grow
research capacity. They therefore support the need for a
strategic approach from Welsh Government and for it to facilitate
and enable stakeholders to engage with EU policies and funding
programmes on a ‘Team Wales’ basis pointing to their
own engagement on the Ser Cymru programme and in setting up the
National Research Networks.
They also welcome the establishment of WEFO’s Horizon 2020
unit and the SCoRE Cymru initiative but are yet to be convinced
that its creation has led to an increase in grant support for
Wales. We collectively consider that more needs to be done to
encourage greater opportunities for SMEs to engage with competitive
EU programmes and to enable universities to work with a wider range
of industrial partners thereby enhancing the current activity of
the Enterprise Europe Network.
Universities Wales support our views that investments made via
ERDF, the EIB and the National Research Networks can be a spring
board to facilitate increased participation in Horizon 2020. They
also emphasise the importance of taking full advantage of UK
funding programmes and in particular the programmes operated by
Research Councils UK.
They welcome the emphasis placed on the importance of an effective
presence in Brussels but wish to see greater cooperation and
coordination of activities between the Welsh Government staff and
Welsh Higher Education Brussels. They point to the need for a
clear set of policy priorities from Government to assist this and
to avoid duplication of activity. They also believe that
there is room for improvement in developing an ‘all Wales
House’ approach to planning activities in Brussels together
with a more open attitude towards sharing information based on
clear objectives. We would strongly encourage this to be
addressed as a matter of urgency.
Universities Wales supports the positive approach by Welsh
Government towards joining the Vanguard initiative and would
welcome a coordinated approach with Welsh universities in order to
engage with partners and on some of the
initiatives.
While there has been some Welsh successes under the Knowledge
Innovation Communities initiative there are still reservations over
its overall success and resource commitments required of main
partners continue to be a barrier to participation.
Universities Wales would be keen to explore opportunities
identified under the European Fund for Strategic Investments with
Welsh Government but currently see it providing limited
opportunities for universities beyond traditional EIB
lending.
They support the references to strategic European/International
partnerships and point to successes between Cardiff University and
the University of Leuven on Health and Low Carbon and between
Swansea and Grenoble on collaborative research.
Universities Wales welcomes the opportunities under Erasmus+ for
international engagement and partnerships and is content to discuss
the need to expand existing annual reporting arrangements to HEFCW
to further reflect international initiatives and
partnerships.
Universities Wales welcome the proposal for European Departmental
Committee and would be pleased to provide regular input to ensure
that proposed actions are aligned with the strategies of the
universities and Welsh Higher Education Brussels (WHEB). They
recommend that priorities set by this group are fed through to
Whitehall departments and to the National Contact Points for
Horizon 2020.
They also support the need for the establishment of a clear set of
policy priorities and call for an open communication channel
between Government and universities, together with WHEB, to ensure
collaboration in delivering on these areas.
Universities Wales also supports the need for good communication
and would be keen to work with Welsh Government to promote good
examples of successes from Welsh
universities.
HEFCW
also offers wide support for our recommendations and achievements
to date welcoming in particular the creation of the
interdepartmental network group and associated funding grid.
As with Universities Wales, it also welcomes our recommendation for
the clear articulation of the Welsh Government’s strategic
priorities on EU engagement, and the role of Government in
facilitating access to EU funding opportunities within a
‘Team Wales’ approach. Also, like Universities Wales,
it would welcome the opportunity to engage with and provide input
into our proposed European Interdepartmental Committee.
HEFCW endorses our emphasis on the need for investment in research
and innovation and high level skills to drive the economy and the
need for more research scientists in Wales. It also
acknowledges the need to exploit imaginatively the variety of EU
policy and funding streams to best effect and of maximising
synergies with domestic funding. It points to Welsh
university successes under Horizon 2020, Erasmus+ and the European
Structural and Investment Funds and future project
proposals.
It welcomes the emphasis on R&I capacity building and
WEFO’s efforts on promoting complementary actions involving
Structural Funds and Horizon 2020 and stresses the need for the
swift approval of projects so that the longer term benefits can be
realised. It also welcomes the SCoRE Cymru initiative and
calls for WEFO’s Horizon 2020 unit to share successful Welsh
and EU Horizon 2020 project data which could provide helpful
insights to help facilitate more partnership and grant
capture.
HEFCW acknowledges the link between Erasmus+ and the Global Wales
initiative and indicates that it will explore with its Global Wales
partners how recent successes can be built
upon.
ColegauCymru,
agrees with the proposition that across all funds, Wales should
seek to take a targeted approach to maximizing the benefit of the
EU funding programs. ColegauCymru’s current focus is to
explore partnerships with institutions within other regions of
Europe which share the priorities of smart specialization and to
introduce work based learners in key sectors to an experience of
working abroad.
ColegauCymru has a full time International Coordinator to submit
centralised Erasmus+ applications on behalf of the FE colleges in
Wales for apprentice and full time vocational learner mobility with
participants undertaking work placements in
Europe.
The role of a centralized coordinator allows colleges to benefit
from a joined up’ approach to European and International
working. It supports a network of European Officers and
International Managers working across all colleges and adds
capacity to the sector through developing and drawing on the
experience of those working in Wales and across Europe. It has a
network of European contacts within mobility departments in
regional governments (Catalunya, Basque Country, Balearics,
Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany) as well as with individual staff in
vocational colleges in Europe allowing it to also act as a central
point of contact for European partners looking for Welsh partners
disseminating and acting on project ideas that are sent via the
Wales Brussels office to Wales.
ColegauCymru therefore supports any initiative to explore further
the role of a centralised resource to build capacity within the
different sectors in order in order to increase the drawdown of
Erasmus+ funding into Wales. This allows the targeting of support
to those areas or beneficiaries who are least likely to apply, let
alone find success in their applications. It would also allow work
to be carried out to secure synergies between ESF programmes
operated by FE colleges and work based learning
providers.
They welcome the need to move beyond the use of established funding
regimes such as the Structural Funds in order to embed the
opportunity for all learners to experience, at first hand, the
nature of work and learning beyond Wales and agree that experience
in accessing funds, and more importantly, securing the benefit of
programmes such as Erasmus+ is currently more limited.
They see the benefits of the integration of learning opportunities
within the EU in their role as the National Contact Point (NCP) in
Wales for the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), European
Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) and
European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training
(EQAVET). These EU tools promote the transparency,
portability and transferability of qualifications across
Europe. The recognition of the learning acquired during
mobility periods in Europe is one of the key themes of the Erasmus+
programme. ColegauCymru is therefore in a prime position to
continue to extend and broaden its activity in relation to
Erasmus+.
ColegauCymru has explored options for addressing gaps in
representation in Wales House in Brussels and has decided to build
on its current relationship with the Head of Economic Development
Policy as the immediate costs of basing an FE representative in
Wales House cannot be funded. The Chief Executive of
ColegauCymru and International Coordinator will travel to Brussels
at the end of February 2016 to make progress with this
commitment.
ColegauCymru represents the FE colleges at the UK National
Agency’s Country Advisory Group (Wales) for Erasmus+ and
suggests that with assistance, there is scope to widen the focus of
this group to explore synergies across EU funding, more strategic
partnerships and cross sectoral applications for Erasmus+
funding.
ColegauCymru is eager to be actively involved in discussions,
events and a meeting related to wider EU funding opportunities and
is available to meet with Welsh Government officials to ensure that
the FE sector in Wales continues to maximize its draw down of EU
funding.
ColegauCymru is aware of the university led Global Wales initiative
and has had informal positive discussions with Universities Wales,
Welsh Government and British Council Wales to include other
organisations that promote Wales as a study destination to
international students under the same banner. Global Wales
provides an excellent opportunity for collaborative working across
the education sectors in Wales and ColegauCymru would welcome the
opportunity to discuss this further with the relevant
organisations.
The British Council,
which is part of the Erasmus+ National Agency, and the National
Agency itself have also written to us following its joint
hosting, with Welsh Government, of the Erasmus+ workshop promoted
by us on 22 February.
The British Councilacknowledges
that the take-up of the Erasmus+ programme in Wales across most
sectors is below what might be expected by Wales’ share of
the UK population. Increasing take-up and helping
stakeholders align Erasmus+ funded projects with the strategic and
policy priorities of the Welsh Government (including other funding
streams) is a priority for them in 2016.
They suggest that the availability of a central (usual human)
resource such as the advice, brokerage and technical back-up
provided by ColegauCymru in the VET sector and the pre and post
award support provided by Cardiff Council’s International
School Linking service, is the key to strong engagement. In
order to lift participation levels in Wales, and to help build
capacity to ensure good engagement over the remainder of the
programme, they therefore propose that Welsh Government should
offer some modest and time-limited investment to support further
central resources of this nature. They also suggest that
Welsh Government might also explore the suitability of using
targets in terms of organisations participating in the
programme.
The British Council suggests that by promoting Erasmus+
systematically through existing Government structures (principally
the regional education consortia, but also through initiatives like
Global Futures and Pioneer schools) the Welsh Government can help
educate stakeholders to align their priorities with Wales-wide
priorities and ensure that any increase in participation is
focussed and aligned with Government priorities. For example
they suggest that there is considerable scope to use mobility and
international partnerships to access international learning
opportunities and best practice examples in areas that are
complementary to overall government
priorities.
The UK
Erasmus+ National Agency welcomes the interim report and
concurs with the views of the British Council. It makes the
following additional observations:
·
Welcomes
the focus on Erasmus+ under Education, Training and Youth and point
out that they have begun to explore how the programme’s
visibility can be raised across Wales (in mid and north Wales in
particular), with support from Welsh Government. The programme will
benefit from continued support of this kind.
·
In
order to maximise the impact of the programme across Wales, they
would welcome collaboration with the management bodies and
personnel of other EU programmes, in order to enhance their ability
to reach out to the relevant target groups and existing networks
effectively. They would particularly welcome making active links
with the ESF programme management team at the Welsh
Government.
·
They
strongly support the points made regarding more effective
harnessing of the programme to support Welsh Government
policy.
·
They
concur with the comments made regarding the value of a review of
participation in the Erasmus+ programme by Welsh universities, in
conjunction with clear reference to the benefits of involvement in
the programme by Welsh Government. Current levels of participation
by higher education institutions are unbalanced, and a
comprehensive review might begin to remedy this.
Local
Government
We have had a number of very constructive meetings with the WLGA
and the Regional Engagement Teams and we are hugely supportive of
the excellent work that they are engaged in, including their links
with the Regional Partnership Boards, to strive towards a more
integrated and strategic delivery model. We also welcome the
presence of the WLGA in Brussels and the proactive working
relationship that exists in Wales House and beyond.
The WLGA
has expressed support for all of our initial recommendations and is
keen to work with all key partners to take these
forward.
It strongly supports the need for a proper mechanism for engaging
on EU policies and funding programmes across all key partners and
stakeholders and has welcomed our recommendations in this area
including our initiative to establish the interdepartmental network
and accompanying funding grid. We would support its view that
membership of the network should ultimately be extended to other
partners and stakeholders (including the WLGA) to ensure a joined
up approach.
The WLGA also welcomes our recommendation that the Welsh Government
should focus its European engagement on key policy priorities
reflecting strategies set out in key documents such as Programme
for Government. It emphasises the importance of this
reflecting a whole-Government approach coordinated and facilitated
at the highest level involving senior officials from all
Departments and reporting to Welsh Government Ministers. The
WLGA highlights priorities and opportunities in the areas of
tackling poverty, youth unemployment, Green Growth and
Sustainability agenda, including the Wellbeing of Future
Generations Act.
We strongly support their view that this more focused approach
should be reflected in the new European Strategy for Wales and that
it should be subject to consultation with key partners and
stakeholders and supported by the development of a joint Action
Plan and Work Programme.
We welcome the WLGA’s pro-active role in supporting
Wales’ four members of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and
their efforts to build upon this to showcase good practice from
Wales and to learn from similar nations and regions. They
acknowledge existing Welsh Government engagement but wish to see
this extended further by, for example, more of their Cardiff and
Brussels based officials undertaking the ‘expert’
support from a Welsh policy perspective and getting involved in
joint initiatives such as some of the specific awards and
conferences organised by the CoR.
The WLGA would welcome more dialogue and joint working with key
partners and organisations based in Wales and in Wales House in
Brussels regarding exploring opportunities to utilise their network
and partnership arrangements. They also see more joint working
between the Wales based European Networks, such as the Local
Government Welsh European Officers Group, the Networks of HE &
FE European Officers and practitioners and the Third Sector
European Forum as the key to realising the more collective,
innovative and pro-active approach to engage in knowledge and
capacity sharing to assist Welsh organisations to access enhanced
EU funding outcomes.
The WLGA agree with our view that the Welsh Government European
Office in Brussels is well placed to play a greater, pivotal role
in effecting the more joined-up approach required in order for
Wales to maximise opportunities from all EU Funding Programmes and
Initiatives. They would welcome a more pro-active
approach to seeking opportunities based on the Scottish model and
for it to work more closely with its partners in Wales House, and
Wales’ MEPs. This can be achieved through regular
partnership meetings, a series of high level focused themed policy
events with the aim of showcasing good practice from Wales,
networking and relationship building with similar nations and
regions.
The WCVA have referred us to the recent (January 2016)
“Report to the National Assembly for Wales on the activities
of the Welsh representatives on the EU Committee of the
Regions”. This includes a number of
recommendations and conclusions, largely echoing our own, and which
we and the WLGA strongly support:
·
“The National Assembly for Wales and Welsh Government
organise an annual EU conference to review engagement in the EU and
to identify priorities for the following year. This event would
bring together the Welsh MEPs, Assembly Chairs, relevant Ministers,
CoR representatives and Welsh stakeholders”.
·
“The Welsh Government publish a revised EU strategy in line
with the recommendations of the CLA Committee and Enterprise and
Business Committee’s reports adopted in 2014. This EU
strategy should include a media / communications action plan aimed
at strengthening the communication and coverage of how Wales
engages in the EU”.
·
“The National Assembly for Wales adopts a resolution before
the end of the current Assembly and at the beginning of the fifth
Assembly stating its support for continued UK (and Welsh)
membership of the EU”.
Private
Sector
We have met with the CBI and FSB in Wales and have received a
formal written response from the Institute of Directors Wales
(IoD).
The IoD
welcomes our list of considerations and proposals but emphasises
that they should be properly addressed, engaging all parts of the
country, all sectors of the economy, and private, third sector and
public alike. They indicate that it would be good to
see a comparably robust piece of work undertaken on the
opportunities within the UK for joint working on common issues.
That should include central government and English local
government, as well as the other devolved
administrations.
They consider that the interim report holds a great deal of promise
for a more effective model going forward and that it would be
important to ensure that action was taken to implement the
recommendations.
They strongly support the view that greater awareness of the many
programmes and initiatives that flow from Europe, and better
coordination, not only within the public sector, but also with
private enterprise and the third sector, would help to maximise the
benefits that can flow from the right sort of public
investment.
They emphasise the importance of good communications across all
sectors in exploiting the opportunities to use these European
funding streams more effectively. That has the potential, not only
to apply that money to the best effect, but also to demonstrate, in
a practical way, the gains to be made from engaging positively with
our European partners across the public and private
sectors.
The IoD agree with the strategic needs we have identified for Wales
surrounding the need to boost skills and wages, the need for more
intelligent SMEs etc. However, to ensure that the right
skills are being identified, they emphasise that it is essential
that the business voice is heard.
They also point out that the lessons learned from full engagement
with the farming sector should be applied more widely across the
private sector. If the wider suite of funds are to be fully
utilised, then the sectoral approach adopted by the Welsh
Government should be revisited to improve the engagement of
businesses beyond the arguably narrow base now in place.
They agree strongly with most of the views we have expressed
relating to Economic and Business Development in our interim report
and especially with our view that the level of engagement in
Brussels and across Europe needs strengthening. They point to the
challenges of building links between officials and those with
business experience, in Europe or more widely and would welcome the
opportunity to discuss how they can help. They also point to
the considerable experience that the private sector can offer in
respect of regulatory powers.
They emphasise that basic skills, which today must include skills
appropriate for an on-line world, are a real challenge in
recruitment and retention. It seems fertile ground for improving
the integration of European and Welsh programmes and fully engaging
the businesses which suffer from the lack of a skilled employment
pool, but which could, with the right government support, be part
of the solution.
In terms of the role of managerial and directorial skills in
building an economy they emphasise IoD’s key function
of strengthening and enhancing the quality of the directing role
and its closely associated governance function and its role as a
leading provider of director qualifications in the UK and more
widely. They also point out that in a part of the UK where
the public sector is dominant, those crucial skills should be the
subject of constant improvement. Equally, they should be in the
third sector. IoD Wales would welcome the opportunity to play
its part in strengthening these skills, not only in the more formal
learning process, but through the softer but equally important
opportunities for exchange of experiences and knowledge that can
flow from events designed to bring together practitioners from
across the board.
They point out that in order to address poverty at the most basic
level, we need a nation of users and consumers of our products and
services. That means good and rising levels of disposable income.
Economic poverty leads to poverty of ambition, which itself leads
to the poor levels of employability.
They point to opportunities in the tidal lagoon industry, where
Wales could lead the world. If European funding streams for
addressing, say, fuel poverty, could be integrated with the
innovation aspect and the sustainability component, as well as the
leisure and marine parts, then this industry, where Wales already
has a live prospect in place, could be transformative for the
economy and Welsh society. It does however require better
coordinating efforts with Whitehall and Westminster. The success in
bringing Aston Martin to Wales shows what can be done with
co-operative working. By contrast, the challenges facing Tata and
the whole Welsh steel industry shows how much more needs to be done
by all parties to sustain that which is already here.
Third
Sector
We have been greatly impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm
shown by the WCVA to engage the third sector in European
programme opportunities. They in turn have welcomed the
Government’s efforts to raise the profile and engagement of
the broader range of EU policy funding options and have been very
supportive of our work and of our proposed
actions.
The WCVA list the third sector challenges for accessing the wider
range of European funds as:
·
The
need for access to clear, concise and timely information about
funding opportunities and call for proposals in a one-stop-shop
format;
·
The
availability of match funding for transnational
exchanges;
·
Finding
partners for projects;
·
Funding
bid development such as travel and accommodation costs to visit
potential partners;
·
The
risks associated with Lead Partner responsibility means that this
isn’t a viable option for third sector. Also associated
problems in finding lead partners that understand and are
sympathetic to third sector requirements (e.g. need for advance
payments).
·
Inability
to meet the requirements to use mechanisms to
‘mainstream’ learning and developments that result from
a partnership exchange into policy and practice in
Wales.
WCVA is working with partners to help address these challenges and
we would support these by encouraging:
·
WEFO
to be as flexible as possible in the use of Technical Assistance to
allow the European (3-SET) team to provide information and guidance
to third sector organisations on the broader suite of EU funding
options (as an exist strategy from ESI Funds) working in
collaboration with the UK Contact Points to bring their expertise
and services to assist the third sector in Wales and to broker
third sector engagement with potential lead partners.
·
The
Welsh Government Officials in Brussels to provide practical support
to assist networking opportunities and to find transnational
partners.
·
The
establishment of a Welsh Anti Poverty Network affiliated to the
European Anti Poverty Network.
·
The
extension of the Welsh Government Internal Network Group to include
external partners (as also called for by the WLGA).
Ministerial
We have been hugely encouraged, and are extremely grateful for the
positive Ministerial support that we have received over the past
year. We would in particular like to thank the Minister for
Communities and Tackling Poverty, the Minister for Education and
Skills, the Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology and the
Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism for their direct
engagement with us and in the participation of events that we have
advocated and promoted during our time as EU Funding
Ambassadors.
We are also pleased at the positive responses that the Minister for
Finance and Government Business has received from Ministerial
colleagues both to our appointments and to the recommendations and
proposals set out in our interim report.
In particular, we are pleased at the commitment and work that the
Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty is undertaking in
terms of increasing the skills of the early years workforce and in
early childhood development as part of the wider tackling poverty
agenda through the use of Structural Funds. We are also
pleased at her endorsement of our recommendations around combatting
poverty and social exclusion and for her commitment to attend the
joint Welsh Government/WCVA event we have planned on 17 March to
look at a range of EU opportunities that could further support
action in this area.
As outlined elsewhere in this report, we are also highly impressed
with the work that the Minister for Health, and his officials, is
undertaking in engaging on the European and international stage to
help advance work under his portfolio. We were pleased to
participate in the event on European Funding and Collaboration for
Health and Wellbeing that his officials staged in
February.
Finally, we are hugely indebted to the extremely positive
engagement, support and enthusiasm afforded to us by the officials
of the Minister for Education and Skills and also by the Minister
and Deputy Minister themselves. Their commitment and
participation in the very successful Internationalising HE
conference that we promoted last November was invaluable. We
also welcome and appreciate their efforts in promoting the wider
opportunities available under the Erasmus+ programme through a
workshop in February and for their cooperation in hosting a
proposed Post 16 Strategy conference later in the
year.
We are also pleased at the Ministers’ commitment to
commission a report on Modern Foreign Language teaching and its
links to Erasmus+ participation and to request annual reports on
University participation as recommended in our interim
report.
Other
We have also received endorsements to our proposals from Derek
Vaughan MEP, The Head of the European Commission in Wales and from
the National Assembly for Wales.
Full copies of all responses will be made available to the EU
Policy Group.
Appendix
C
We had the opportunity, in our work, to consider the Brussels
operations of other UK regions (Scotland, Northern Ireland) as well
as other European regions. The principles of their operations
seem broadly similar but we have examined the Scottish operation in
most detail and this is described below.
The Scottish system is based around 3 pillars:
-
A clear, politically supported and articulated, view that Europe is
important to the future of Scotland. This is then visibly
delivered through active engagement by Ministers and
officials;
-
Translation of this vision into a prioritisation framework which
clearly defines the specific areas that are important to Scotland;
and
-
Resultant empowerment of the Scottish Government in Brussels to
make Scotland the “partner of choice” for other
European regions in those areas.
These are supported by four operational approaches:
·
A
recognition that arm’s length review of EU policies and
documents is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for success
and that it must be supplemented by local relationship building and
regular contact in order to fully understand the context and
background.
·
An
appropriate mix of short and long term targets which recognises
that, in Europe, networking and relationship building is a valuable
activity in its own right.
·
Regular
contact between Brussels and Scotland around key priority areas
that classifies short term activity into “proactive”,
“reactive” or “inactive”. This
ensures the Brussels office can then prioritise its own activities
appropriately and determine what it can achieve locally and when
that needs to be supplemented by external support.
·
Use
of appropriate resource and an appropriate mix of local and
“homebased” resource. A recognition also that
this is not simply a numbers game (although the Scottish Government
office in Brussels is very well resourced in numbers terms) but is
also about the right experience and skills and an acknowledgement
that, in the Brussels environment, appropriate interpersonal skills
are a key requirement.
Appendix
D
During the course of our work, we have observed in the Department
of Health in Welsh Government, application of a number of the
principles we have recommended in this report. This is
encapsulated well in the following extract from an internal
Department report:
Achieving success in European programmes is much more than a single
funding bid or short term project.
It requires strategic commitment, persistence, open-mindedness and
team work. It is an on-going process involving a continuum of
activities from ‘moulding opportunities’ at local,
national and European level (i.e. shaping decisions about new
calls, mobilising stakeholders, influencing upcoming policies and
priorities, recognising and promoting local strengths) through
improving capacity, knowledge, understanding and skills (incl.
management, administration and finance); building confidence,
capacity and partnerships; project development and application, and
finally effective delivery of international collaborative
projects.
The Department has applied the principles we have referred to in
this report in the following way:
Prioritisation – Areas
for priority attention have been selected on the basis of overlap
between existing areas of strength in Wales and EU commission
priorities. So, for example, building on the recognition that
Wales has already achieved in the area of active and healthy ageing
through the award of 3 star reference site status under the
European Innovation Platform in this area.
Focus –
There has been recognition that activity needs to be focussed
around Brussels and a deliberate decision to focus that activity
around a small number of European networks and regions chosen as
ones likely to be supportive of developments in the priority
areas. So, for example, membership of the European regional
health Authorities network (EUREGHA) and links with the Health
Authorities in Flanders have been pursued.
Resource –
A dedicated resource has been applied to this work over an extended
period (>12 months) and this will continue into 2016/17.
The person working in this area has extensive previous experience
of working in the European environment and in Brussels in
particular.
Early results from the work so far are encouraging but, as the
quotation above emphasises, this type of activity requires
consistent effort over the medium term in order to achieve
strategic impact. We also believe that implementation of our
recommendations would enable this type of individual departmental
effort to be more effectively linked to the rest of Welsh
Government and external stakeholders. For example,
discussions are already under way between the Health Department and
the Life Science sector within the Economy Department on working
together to bring businesses within Life Sciences into joint
partnerships and consortia to assist in funding bids. We
believe this activity would be even more effective if it received
the type of high level endorsement and support we have described in
this
report.
Appendix
E
|
EU
Budget (€m)
-
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund
3,100
-
Civil Protection
Mechanism
368
-
Connecting Europe
Facility
33,300
-
Copernicus
4,000
-
COSME
2,200
-
Creative
Europe
1,400
-
Customs, Taxation and Fight against
Fraud
908
-
Development Co-operation
Instrument
19,600
-
Employment and Social Innovation
(EaSI)
919
-
Erasmus+
14,700
-
EU Aid
Volunteers
147
-
European Energy Efficiency Fund
(EEEF)
265
-
Europe for
Citizens
185
-
European Fund for Strategic Investments
(EFSI)
21,000
-
Food and
Feed
1,800
-
Galileo
7,000
-
Horizon
2020
79,000
-
LIFE
3,400
-
Rights, Equality and
Citizenship
439
-
Third health programme – Health for
Growth
449
-
Urban Innovative
Actions
370
Total
194,550
|
European Territorial Co-operation Programmes (2014-2020)
|
-
Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020
-
ESPON 2020
-
Interreg Europe 2014-2020
-
North-West Europe (NWE) Programme 2014-2020
-
Ireland/Wales Cross-border Programme 2014-2020
-
URBACT III
Total
|
EU
Budget (€m)
140
41
359
396
79
74
1,089
|
European Structural and Investment Fund programmes in Wales
(2014-2020)
|
-
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
-
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2014-2020
-
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
-
European Social Fund (ESF)
Total
|
EU
Budget (€m)
655
19
1,406
1,005
3,085
|
Other Directly Managed EU Funding Programmes (2014-2020)
|
-
Consumer Programme
-
EU Nuclear Decommissioning
-
European Globalisation and Adjustment Fund (EGF)
-
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights
-
European Neighbourhood Instrument
-
European Partnership Instrument
-
European Solidarity Fund (natural disasters)
-
Humanitarian Aid
-
Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC)
|
EU
Budget (€m)
188
553
150
1.332
15.432
954
500*
6,621
225
|
*Up to a maximum €500 million annually
Appendix
F
Directly Managed EU Programme Interventions and Successes
This Appendix contains details of recent Welsh performance in
accessing the main EU’s directly managed funding
programmes.
1. Horizon 2020
Performance in
Wales is monitored by WEFO’s Horizon 2020 Unit with details
published in its Annual Reports. Headline figures from the
2015 report are set out below.
Overall Performance
It is
still early in the programme period to confirm statistical trends
but it is clear that Horizon 2020, as expected, is more competitive
than its predecessor Framework Programme 7 (FP7). This
reflects the fact that many areas of the programme are heavily
oversubscribed, including new initiatives such as the SME
Instrument.
Considering the
stiff competition, performance by Welsh organisations is
encouraging in many areas. Formal statistics are available for the
end of October 2015 and show that Wales has succeeded in attracting
€35,107,081 from the Horizon 2020 programme[3].
Wales has had over 64 participations in over 60 projects involving
540 collaborations across Europe.
In
comparison with the UK, which is one of the leading countries in
Horizon 2020, Wales has 2.46% of the amount of funding going to UK
organisations and 2.09% of the number of UK participations.
At the end of FP7, Wales achieved 2.07% of the UK funding and 2.51%
of the participations.
Performance by theme
The
Excellent Science pillar of Horizon 2020 is bringing in by far the
most funding so far; Wales has attracted over €10 million from
the European Research Council and over €16 million through
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions.
The
Industrial Leadership pillar accounted for €3.2 million and
the Societal Challenges pillar for €4.1 million.
Performance of the Higher Education sector
The
Higher Education sector remains key to the performance of Wales.
Welsh Universities are responsible for 69% of the participations
and 59% of the funding in Wales, although this is lower than FP7
when the sector achieved 70% of the Welsh participations and 81% of
the funding. In the UK, Universities are responsible for 58%
of the participations and 63% of the funding so far in Horizon
2020.
Success rates can
be misleading as the volume of applications plays a part but the
Welsh Higher Education success rate is relatively low at 10% at the
moment. The UK Higher Education success rate is 14%.
Performance of the private sector
There
have been 15 confirmed private sector participations worth
€3.7m. This means the private sector accounts for 23% of
participations and 11% of funding in Wales which is similar to FP7
performance. The UK has a similar level of private sector
participations (26%) but the funding level is higher at
21%.
The
private sector success rate in Wales is 13%. This is the same as
the private sector success rate for all countries.
Regional comparison
Regional
comparison is fraught with difficulty due to limited data,
particularly at this stage of the programme, and the structural
differences between regional research and innovation
ecosystems. On some indicators, for example Horizon 2020
funding per person, Wales appears to be performing better than
several regions (e.g. Galicia in Spain), similar to others (e.g.
Northern Ireland) and behind some (e.g. the Basque
Country).
2.
Erasmus+
Final
call data for 2015 has yet to be published but from that already
available, 40 Welsh projects were awarded funding of some
€6.5m (5.8% of the UK total against our population share of
4.8%). This represents an improvement on 2014
(€5.1m/4.7%). This included 13 projects (worth €3.4m)
from the HE sector, 8 projects (worth €1.5m) from Vocational
Education and Training and 11 projects (worth €855k) from
Youth.
Wales’
percentage of successful applications in 2015 was the highest of
the home nations at 60.6%. Welsh performance in 2014 and 2015
compared to the rest of the UK is shown at Figure 1
below.
Some
examples of successful Erasmus projects in 2015 include:
-
Cardiff City
Council – Inspiring Outdoor Learning – A Vision for
Schools in South Wales - €97,200
-
Cardiff
Metropolitan University – Partnership with Brazil, China,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Lebanon & Morocco - €252,240.
Swansea University in partnership with China, New Zealand & USA
- €176,120
-
Swansea
University in partnership with China, New Zealand & USA -
€176,120
-
Coleg
Cambria – Mobility and Cultural Awareness for VET Learners -
€322,810
-
Colleges Wales
– Pan Wales FE Staff & Vocational Learner Mobility (2
projects) - €239,949
-
Welsh Football
Trust (FAW) – Using Mobility to enhance Apprentice Success in
Wales - €150,823
3.
Creative Europe
Culture
Six
projects involving Welsh partners received support under the
2007-13 Cultural programme as listed below. Unfortunately
grant award data is not available but as these are cooperative
projects awards would be split between the different
partners.
2007-2013
-
2013
Wales Literature Exchange - ‘Schwob: A European Gateway to
the best unknown books’.
-
2013
– Aberystwyth University: ‘Literature Across
Frontiers’.
-
2013
– Sinfonia Cymru: Emerging Classical Talent in the
EU.
-
2013
Volcano: One Land Many Faces.
-
2013
Ffotogallery: European Prospects.
-
2013
Coreo Cymru: Dance Roads Open Process.
2014-2020
Two projects have so far been successful under the 2014-20
programme receiving grant of some €240,000.
-
2014
Welsh National Opera: ‘The Opera Platform’ (part
of a cooperation project between 10 countries):
€86,000
-
2015
Aberystwyth University’s Mercator Institute for Media
Languages and Culture – ‘Literary Europe
Live’: €155,000
Media
Welsh
companies received funding of some €2,554,000 under the MEDIA
2007-2013 Programme. The projects involved were:
Scheme
|
Year
|
Company
|
Project
Title
|
Location
|
Amount Awarded
(€)
|
|
Initial Training
|
2010
2011
2012
2013
|
Skillset Media Academy
Wales
Skillset Media Academy
Wales
Skillset Media Academy
Skillset Media Academy
|
TransMedia Lab
Transform@Lab
TranformatLab
TransformatLab
|
Newport
Cardiff
Cardiff
|
69,942
70,000
83,129
92,902
|
|
Network of Cinemas
|
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
|
Chapter Arts Centre
Chapter Arts Centre
Chapter Arts Centre
Chapter Arts Centre
Chapter Arts Centre
|
Europa Cinemas
Europa Cinemas
Europa Cinemas
Europa Cinemas
|
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
|
10,250
10,590
14,759
9,146
9,146
|
|
Single Project
|
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2009
2009
2010
2010
2011
2012
|
Calon
Ffilmiau’r Nant
Cyf
Teledu Apollo Cyf
Truth Department
Element Productions
Modern Television
Vision Thing
Communications
Dinamo Productions
Fragrant Films
Red & Black Films
Baby Lamb
Fiction Factory
|
PS15
The Devil’s Horn
Eliffant
Gone to Spain
Europe’s Big Walk: The
Pilgrimage Route from Canterbury to Rome
Road of Bones
String Theory – The Sound of
Good and Evil
The Wordles
Runt
Cyrano
Red
|
Cardiff
Menai Bridge
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
Treforest
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff
|
50,000
30,000
40,000
30,000
46,497
40,000
24,999
53,771
24,950
24,980
24,957
45,000
|
|
Slate Funding
|
2007
2011
2012
|
Griffilms
Machine Productions
Dinamo
|
Slate Funding 1 –
Animation
Various
|
Caernarfon
Treforest
Treforest
|
80,000
165,022
150,000
|
|
Interactive Projects
|
2009
2011
2012
|
Dave Edwards Entertainment
Media
Rondo
Dinamo
|
Arty’s ‘Make & Do
Combat’
Lost in Infinity
Abadas – pop up
book
|
Llanelli
Cardiff
|
86,014
150,000
50,000
|
|
TV Broadcasting
|
2008
2008
2012
|
Mike Young Productions
Calon
Fiction Factory
|
Chloe’s Closet
Igam Ogam
Hinterland
|
Bridgend
Cardiff
|
300,000
268,000
500,000
|
|
Total
|
2,554,054
|
2014-2020
Sixteen
applications from Welsh projects have been submitted under the
2014-2020 programme. Three have currently been successful
securing funding of some €660,000 as shown below:
-
Chapter Arts
Centre €12,500
-
The
Bronco Case (involving Chapter Arts) €150,000
-
Fiction Factory
(Hinterland) €500,000
4.
Connecting Europe
In
2014 five bids were submitted from Wales (see Figure 2). This
included bids from Welsh Government for 4 road schemes (M4, Eastern
Bay Link, A40 and A55) and one from Network Rail for funding
towards electrification of the South Wales main line.
Only
the Network Rail project was successful securing some
€4m. It should however be noted that Wales will also
benefit from a successful UK bid for an Integrated Transport
Systems project for roads.
A
decision on a joint application between Milford Haven and Waterford
ports for a study to research maintenance dredging methods in 2015
is still awaited.
The
Connecting Europe fund criteria is strict, reflecting the
relatively modest nature of the amount available (compared to
infrastructure costs) and the wholly competitive nature of the
bidding. Therefore comparing the number of applications from
Wales with the other domestic countries and the success rate is not
straightforward as, to make sense, it very much depends on
understanding the nature of individual projects and how they
correspond with the criteria.
5.
COSME
COSME
provides support for Enterprise Europe Network in Wales which is
undertaking valuable work in assisting Welsh businesses identify
European and domestic funding opportunities.
A
number of companies have received support across the UK but
unfortunately no regional data currently exists to identify Welsh
successes.
6.
Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) fund
Wales, or the UK
as a whole, has not accessed any funding under EaSI.
However, some
progress has been made in 2015 in that Welsh Government officials
are now proactively engaged in discussions with the Department for
Work and Pensions over Welsh Government policy priorities and to
ensure that they are notified of all calls for funding. Discussions
have also taken place with representatives from the third sector
and local government, in addition to policy leads within the Welsh
Government, over the potential funding source with a view to
circulating details of future calls and encouraging relevant
applications. Officials are also looking to establish closer
links directly with the European Commission.
7.
European Investment Bank/European Fund for Strategic
Investments
Over
the past twenty years, the Bank has invested more than
€1.6bn
in Welsh-specific projects across a range of sectors, both public
and private, including water, aviation, the motor industry, and
housing stock. This includes £60m for the Swansea
Second Campus in 2012.
More
recent successes include:
2013
·
a
£160 million loan to Wales & West Water to upgrade and
expand the gas distribution networks in its area of
operations.
2014
·
A
£110 million loan to the Pennon Group PLC to construct,
operate and maintain a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in
Cardiff.
·
a
loan to fund the construction of a £30 million facility in
support of the R&D programme of Norgine – a
pharmaceutical company with research facilities at
Hengoed.
·
A
£45 million loan to Bangor University to construct new
teaching, research and supporting facilities at the
university.
2015
·
a
£60m investment in the Swansea University Innovation
Campus.
·
a
£230 million loan to Welsh Water which will help fund its
extensive capital expenditure programme so that it can maintain and
improve its services.
·
a
£51 million loan towards the construction of a transmission
link to the second largest wind farm in the world, Gwynt y Mor
– located in Liverpool Bay, 8 miles off the north Wales
coast.
European Fund for Strategic Investment
The
fund was announced in November 2014. Welsh Government has
identified ten potential Welsh projects on the UK indicative
investment pipeline which were presented to the European Commission
at the end of last year. This included the South East Wales
Metro, the Swansea Tidal
Lagoon and Anglesey Energy Island. Of these, the
Metro was also identified on the Commission’s own list of
potential projects.
8.
LIFE
Statistics on
Welsh projects are not readily available since these are generally
recorded on a UK basis. In many instances, projects include
actions across the UK and sometimes in other parts of Europe
– this makes it very difficult to assess the amount of
funding secured for Welsh actions.
A
search of the European Commission LIFE database does however
identify 9 projects involving Welsh partners that that have
received support since 2007 (see Figure 3). Seven of these
projects (receiving total support of some €12m) are under the
2007-13 programme and 2 (involving total support of €4m) under
the 2014-2020 programme. It is estimated that the total spend in
Wales related to these projects is in the region of
€6m.
There
are also a number of other UK related projects that will involve
some activity, and therefore potential benefits, in Wales but where
there is no official Welsh partner.
At a
UK level, in the first 3 years of the 2014-2020 programme, there
have been 26 successful projects from a total of 70 applications
(37%).
9. European
Territorial Cooperation (ETC) Programmes
ETC Programmes in
Wales 2007-12013
Overall, the ETC
Programmes 2007-2013 invested around €1.4 billion including
€885m ERDF across the EU. In Wales, partners were engaged in
five main ETC Programmes actively participating in 94 co-operation
projects. The total value of these projects was some €154m in
ERDF, of which €43m of ERDF investment has been brought into
Wales.
The
table at Figure 4 provides a breakdown of projects and financial
uptake in Wales under the 2007-2013 programmes. Wales has
generally performed well against the rest of the UK and has been
one of the best performing regions of the EU on the North-West
Europe programme.
Wales will be
involved in the following ETC programmes
2014-2020:
·
Ireland Wales
Co-operation Programme;
·
Atlantic Area
Programme;
·
North-West Europe
Programme;
·
INTERREG
Europe;
·
URBACT;
·
ESPON;
and
·
INTERACT
Ireland Wales
cross-border programme 2014-2020
Interest levels
in the open call Programme are very high, particularly from the HE
and local government sectors at this juncture with 41 proposals in
the open call system, 16 of which are in business planning.
The first formal approval is expected in March
2016.
Transnational and
inter-regional co-operation
Atlantic
Area(€185m
programme covering all of Wales and Ireland, western coastal
regions of the UK, France, Spain and Portugal, featuring
Priorities focusing on Innovation, resource efficiency, resilience
to risks (natural/climate/human) and enhancing bio-diversity and
natural and cultural assets).
The
programme was formally approved in November 2015 and work is
progressing to negotiate and solidify implementation procedures in
time for a first call in May/June 2016.
North-West
Europe(€648m
programme covering all of Wales and the UK, Ireland, Belgium,
Luxembourg and areas of France, Germany, the Netherlands and
featuring Priorities focusing on Innovation, low carbon and
resource materials efficiency).
This
is the more advanced of the two transnational programmes in which
Wales engages. First call applications were made last year
with the first approvals likely to emerge during spring 2016.
Early interest from Welsh partners across the FE and third sectors
include potential engagement in 8 operations at various stages of
development.
Wales
has performed very well in terms of ERDF grant per population
during 2007-2013. Wales sits at 9th among all the EU regions
in the participating Member States, ahead of all other UK regions,
and 7th in all N W E, discounting Luxembourg (very low residential
population) and Brussels (picks up all the funding going to
pan-European Partners with HQs registered in Brussels).
Inter-regional
programmes
Decisions on
first call INTERREG Europe (€426m EU 28 programme focusing on
R&D and innovation, SME competitiveness, low carbon and
environment and resource efficiency) applications will be made in
Spring 2016.
URBACT, ESPON and
INTERACT
These
are still at early stages of development. WEFO’s ETC
Unit are keeping Welsh partners advised on developments.
