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INTRODUCTION
1. The EU Structural and Cohesion Funds are the EU's main instruments for supporting social and economic restructuring across the EU. They are used to promote regional economic development and employment across the EU Member States. The Funds, which have been worth over £1 billion to Scotland in the 2000-2006 period, have traditionally supported a wide range of activities including transport and communications infrastructure development, innovation support, enterprise and business development, protecting and enhancing the environment, supporting specific sectors of regional economies, delivering active labour market policies and improving skills. The current cycle of Structural Funds programmes will come to an end in 2006 with new programmes coming into effect in 2007. This consultation seeks views on draft Operational Programmes for Structural Funds in Scotland for the 2007-2013 period, specifically on those programmes covering Highlands & Islands.
2. Much discussion has surrounded the future of Structural Funds over the past year largely because of the debate on the future financing of the EU and, with enlargement, the need to divert EU resources to the new Member States, many of which have significant economic development needs. Central to this debate has been the negotiations on the future EU budget for the 2007-2013 period (or 'Financial Perspective') as well as the EC Regulations which will define how future Structural Funds can be spent. Agreement on the EU budget for 2007-2013 was reached at European Council on 17 December 2005. The agreement means that Structural Funds will continue to be available throughout Scotland, albeit at considerably reduced levels. Agreement of the new EUCommunity Strategic Guidelines ( CSG), the overall strategic document for 2007-2013 Structural Funds programmes, and a package of Structural Funds regulations, which provide the detail of what Structural Funds can be spent on, was reached recently. The regulations were formally signed off by both the Council and the European Parliament on 31 July and they came into force on 1 August. The CSG and the Structural Funds regulations can be found on the European Commission's website at:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/2007/index_en.htm
3. The Structural Funds regulations require the detail of a region's plans for Structural Funds in 2007-2013 to be outlined in Operational Programmes. The purpose of this consultation is to invite views on the content of the draft Scottish Operational Programmes for 2007-2013, particularly on the proposed priorities, delivery arrangements and financial allocations. These programmes have been developed by the Scottish Executive taking account of the CSG and the Structural Funds regulations.
4. They have also been developed on the basis of responses to the earlier consultation on the UKNational Strategic Reference Framework ( NSRF), which provides the overall strategic framework for implementing the CSG into UK Structural Funds programmes, and from the various stakeholder events held by the Scottish Executive at the turn of 2005/2006 as well as the report by the European & External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament on future Structural Funds programming. The consultation on the NSRF, which contains a chapter in Scotland, closed on 22 May 2006 and a summary of responses, including the final revised NSRF, can be found on the Department of Trade and Industry ( DTI) website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/regional/european-structural-funds/index.html. A summary of Scottish stakeholder views expressed at the stakeholder events can be found on the Scottish Executive Structural Funds website at www.scotland.gov.uk/structuralfunds. A report of the Parliament European and External Relation Committee's inquiry and submitted evidence, including the Scottish Executive's response, is available from the Scottish Parliament website:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/europe/index.htm
5. As part of this consultation process we are also seeking views on the Strategic Environmental Assessment ( SEA) of the European Regional Development Fund ( ERDF) programmes for Lowlands & Uplands Scotland and the Highlands & Islands. The SEA is an ongoing process to assess the potential environmental effects of the ERDF programmes. An initial SEA screening of the broad programme priorities concluded that a full SEA was not necessary for the European Social Fund ( ESF) programmes. The SEA involves the preparation of an environmental report in which the likely significant effects on the environment of implementing the programme, and reasonable alternatives taking into account the objectives and geographical scope of the plan or programme, are identified, described and evaluated. The SEA environmental report of the Highlands & Islands ERDF programme will be available shortly at www.scotland.gov.uk/structuralfunds.
6. We have also undertaken Equal Opportunities and Racial Impact Assessments. These were discussed at an Equal Opportunities workshop held by the Executive in April 2006. These assessments are also available from our website at www.scotland.gov.uk/structuralfunds.
7. Each Operational Programme contains: a socio-economic analysis of the region in question; a summary of the policy context for the programme; detailed description of the programme aims, objectives and priorities; co-ordination with other EU funding streams (such as the Scottish Rural Development Programme and the European Fisheries Fund); and arrangements for delivering and evaluating the programme. Detailed financial tables have not been included at this stage, though indications of relative shares under each priority are given in the consultation document. In the final version of the documents, there will also be a range of indicators and targets for measuring activity under the different programmes. Consultants are currently preparing reports that will advise the Executive on which indicators and targets should be used.
8. In accordance with the Structural Funds regulations, an ex-ante evaluation has been undertaken for each of the Operational Programmes. These evaluations have been undertaken on an iterative basis by independently-contracted consultants throughout the development of the draft programmes. The purpose of the ex-ante evaluations is to review the development of Operational Programmes to identify and appraise any disparities, gaps and potential for development and to ensure the coherence of the programme with EU priorities. The ex-ante evaluation report for each programme will be available with the final, revised Operational Programmes.
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