Euroform Programme (Hansard, 21 January 1993)

§ Mr. Burden
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list details of(a) how many bids her Department has received for funding from the Euroform programme, (b) how many of these bids have been accepted, (c) how many have been refused, (d) the total value of the bids that have been refused and (e) the total value of funding allocated to the United Kingdom from the Euroform programme.

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth
The Employment Department has received 328 bids under the first two rounds of applications for the Euroform programme. Of these, 156 projects have been approved, while 172 projects were refused. The approximate cost of unsuccessful applications was £4.6 million.
A further 211 bids have been received as a result of a third call for applications following the allocation funds by the European Commission.
The Department has responsibility for Great Britain only, for which the total value of funding allocated under Euroform is £25.5 million. Northern Ireland has a separate allocation of funds.

§ Mr. Burden
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what criteria her Department uses when assessing bids for funding from the Euroform programme.

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth
Under Euroform, projects are selected by a partnership committee comprising representatives from the sectors which apply for funding, the European Commission and the Employment Department.
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Taking account of the priorities identified in the operational programme, the committee agreed a list of 10 key areas against which to score individual projects. These were:

(i) the depth and quality of the transnational partnership(s);

(ii) the contribution to be made by the project to less-developed regions;

(iii) the innovatory nature of the project;

(iv) whether the project would provide value for money;

(v) the qualifications which would be developed and acquired;

(vi) the relevance of the project to the needs of the labour market and whether the project would facilitate geographical and occupational mobility;

(vii) whether systems were in place for the administration and management of the project;

(viii) that the project could not have taken place without assistance from Euroform and that the outcomes could be developed for subsequent use in other contexts;

(ix) whether the project built on links with other European Community programmes;

(x) whether the project was clearly targeted had clearly stated and quantifiable objectives.