Social Fund (Hansard, 8 May 1990)

§ Mr. John Garrett
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether there have been any delays by his Department in the allocations of the European social fund; when decisions will be made in these allocations and whether allocations to the non-statutory sector will be equal to their funding from this source in 1989.

§ Mr. Eggar
The reform of the European Community's structural funds imposes an entirely new procedure for deciding ESF allocations in 1990, with many new tasks falling to Member States. My Departmment has been50W working with applicants to revise operational programmes according to the requirements set out in the European Commission's community support frameworks, so that the agreement of the Commission can be obtained. I will shortly be making proposals about allocations. As the European Commission is providing the United Kingdom with less money in 1990 than in 1989, no sector can be guaranteed the same allocation as last year.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment in what month ESF programme funding has been paid out to voluntary organisations in each of the past 10 years.

§ Mr. Eggar
ESF payments have been made to voluntary organisations during the following months:

1987: July, August, September, October, November and December.

1988: Payments made in every month.

1989: Payments made in every month.

1990: January, February, March, April, to date.

These payments were for activities started in the same year, and for those completed in preceding years.
The same information in respect of earlier years before records were computerised, can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what conclusions he has drawn about the action of those voluntary organisations which have continued to run training programmes since January 1990 before being told whether they had ESF funding; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Eggar
My department informs all applicants to the European social fund that because of the European Community procedures for handling applications many applicants may need to start their projects without certainty of any ESF support. This has always been the case, and remains so following the reform of the Community's structural funds.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many training places with Scottish voluntary organisations supported by ESF funding are being provided in the current years.

§ Mr. Eggar
There have been no decisions announced regarding individual organisations' ESF support for 1990. Therefore I cannot say how many training places will be funded for the Scottish voluntary organisations this year.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when (1) he will issue application forms to voluntary organisations for the European social fund programme starting in 1990;
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(2) whether he has any proposals for improving the administration of ESF applications from voluntary organisations.

§ Mr. Eggar
This is the first year of operation of the major reform of the Community's structural funds including the European social fund, and entirely new application procedures are being developed. My Department has been working with the European Commission and applicant organisations to determine these new procedures and hopes to be able to issue project application forms and guidance within the next month. As the new procedures are implemented, they will be reviewed in the light of experience.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if ESF money is used by the Government to subsidise benefit payments on the employment training programme.

§ Mr. Eggar
The ESF supports additional training places on the employment training programme. Of the various types of expenditure eligible for funding a small proportion is claimed for trainee allowances, which are over and above benefit entitlement.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what response he intends to make to the resolution sent to him by 40 voluntary member organisations in Scotland protesting about his administration of ESF funding to voluntary organisations.

§ Mr. Eggar
I will be responding in due course to the resolution sent by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he anticipates he will pay money out to voluntary organisations for ESF programmes which started in January 1990.

§ Mr. Eggar
It is expected that first payments from the European social fund to projects will be available to all applicants during the summer, as has been the case in previous years prior to the reform of the Community's structural funds. The timing will however depend in large part on when the European Commission gives approval to operational programmes.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much money has been allocated by him to voluntary organisations for the ESF programme starting in January 1990.

§ Mr. Eggar
No decisions have been taken yet on the amounts of ESF to be allocated to any organisation in 1990.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many voluntary organisations withdrawing from training work have given reasons for their withdrawal; and in how many cases the way the ESF funding is administered by his Department has been mentioned.

§ Mr. Eggar
I have no means of being able to establish comprehensive information about the numbers of voluntary organisations withdrawing from training work nor the reasons why. Any information which is available can only be extracted at a disproportionate cost and relates only to Government training schemes.
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§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make it his policy to guarantee to approve the training programmes of those voluntary organisations who have operated on the assumption that they will receive ESF money for programmes starting in January 1990.

§ Mr. Eggar
No guarantee of funding can be offered to individual applicants in advance of the approval by the European Commission of operational programmes and decisions about the eligibility of individual projects. No such guarantees have been given in previous years. Once projects are approved, however, expenditure from 1 January 1990 will be eligible for support.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many training places were provided by Scottish voluntary organisations supported by ESF funding in 1989.

§ Mr. Eggar
In 1989, ESF assistance was approved for Scottish voluntary sector organisations to provide 3,272 training places. I cannot say how many of these places were taken up as the final claims for payment from all these organisations have yet to be received.