Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 11th August, it had been provided with information in respect of a forthcoming call for projects under Priority 1 of the European Social Fund.

            The Director of Development informed the Members that the call had now been issued, with the deadline for submissions being 5th November.  He explained that the European Social Fund, which was administered locally by the Department for Employment and Learning, was one of the European Commission’s Structural Funds and was used for training and employability projects.  Priority 1 of the Northern Ireland European Social Fund sought to help people find sustainable employment and projects funded under this Priority should concentrate on activities to extend the employment opportunities of unemployed and inactive people by helping them to enter, remain and make progress in work.  Projects should help to improve the employability of groups experiencing significant employment gaps, such as those with disabilities, lone parents, older workers, young people not in education and people with limited educational qualifications.  Projects which were successful in receiving funding under the European Social Fund were required to obtain 35% in match-funding.

            The Director reported that the Council was, presently, match-funding one project, namely, HARTE (Hospitality and Retail Training for Employment) and had in the current year provided £40,000 to assist with the project.  He reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 11th August, it had agreed a set of criteria to be used to guide the development of any potential application received under the European Social Fund and had agreed also that these would be used to assess any requests for match-funding from potential partners.  He reviewed the criteria and reported that Members had suggested that, whilst projects should have city-wide impact, extra emphasis should be placed on areas with high levels of unemployment and low skills but within the context of an overall strategic outlook for the City.  They had noted that the sectors which had been identified for prioritisation should not be mutually exclusive but should include other sectors such as manufacturing and entrepreneurship.

            He reported further that, in anticipation of the call for projects, a meeting had been held with officers from across all Departments in order to identify potential areas of focus for any initiative in which the Council might become involved, in order to ensure the appropriate adherence to Council priorities.  Officers had been contacted also by other partners who would be interested in developing projects for submission and had been liaising closely with the Department for Education and Learning to ensure that project ideas did not replicate those being provided currently.  He pointed out that, at this stage, no specific projects had been formalised.  He added that the resource implications for the Council of the European Social Fund match-funding criteria were not clear but would not exceed current investment in employability initiatives and that, once projects were defined, a report would be submitted to the Committee in order to seek approval for the requisite amount of funding.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided.