Regional Competitiveness And Employment programmes

The programmes are the successor to the Objective 2 and Objective 3 programmes 2000–2006, and geographically will cover seven local authority areas in the East Wales region.

The Regional Competitiveness and Employment programmes comprise funding from two separate European Structural Funds: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF).  Around £60 million of ERDF funds will be channelled through the Welsh Government to help continue the region’s economic, social and environmental transformation, by helping new and existing businesses to grow and move up the value chain, and increase the ‘value added’ per job.  It will also focus on regenerating Wales’ most deprived communities and tackling climate change. Just over £50 million from the ESF will be used to tackle economic inactivity, increase skills and employment. Together with match funding from the private, public and voluntary sectors, the total investment of the Programmes will be around £280 million.

ERDF and ESF Operational Programmes for Regional Competitiveness

Separate Operational Programmes have been developed for each of the ERDF and ESF Regional Competitiveness and Employment programmes. Essentially, they are planning documents, which show how the funding will be spent in East Wales. The documents outline the Priorities for each programme which have been based on social, economic and environmental analyses of the needs and opportunities of the region, and eligible areas of activity in line with European Commission and Council Regulations. The ERDF Operational Programme was legally adopted by the commission on 08 August 2007 and the ESF Operational Programme was legally adopted on 16 October 2007.