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McConnell announces further £5m to support workers having to adapt to industrial change

30/12/1999

A further £5 million is to be made available to assist workers being forced to adapt to industrial change, Scottish Executive Finance Minister Jack McConnell announced today. The money is being made available under the European Social Fund Objective 4 programme, which has already committed £9 million worth of funds in Scotland this year.

The money will allow funding for an additional 53 projects, including projects currently on reserve lists, new applications and extending certain projects beyond the end of the current programme period which ends on December 31, 1999.

"The European Social Fund's Objective 4 Programme is aimed specifically at re-skilling workers and helping them face industrial change, and I am convinced that this package of measures will maximise the number of workers who can benefit, and also sustain the capacity of the training organisations themselves."

BACKGROUND

1. Objective 4 of the European Social Fund consists of three strands:

• planning for change
• tackling change through the development of the workforce
• reinforcing solutions to change

The second of these strands is by far the biggest, both in terms of numbers of projects and financial allocation, and is where the extra money is aimed in terms of new applications and prolongation. All strands will however benefit in terms of reserve projects receiving funding.

2. There has been considerable underspend within the second strand. This is due partly to a late launch of the programme in 1998 leading to money being rolled over to 1999, and partly to a lack of suitable projects being put forward. These proposals seek to rectify this situation.

3. The current ESF programme ends on December 31, 1999, and although a replacement programme has been agreed by the EU to run from 2000 to 2006, it is not anticipated that approval of applications under the new programme could take effect until May at the earliest. The prolongation aspect of these proposals will assist projects during this transition period.

Objective 4 Allocations

Reserve projects from initial and second round applications £807,060

Prolongation £825,707

Further Call £3,778,635

* These projects have declared underspends but have secured prolongation; the net figure represents the overall effect on the allocations.

News Release: SE1799/1999
30 Dec 1999