Scottish Government is conducting a consultation seeking views on how a replacement funding vehicle for the European Structural Funds could best meet the needs of citizens, businesses and communities in Scotland.

The aim of the consultation is to assist in the development of the Scottish approach to a potential replacement for European Structural Funds and to ensure that stakeholders are empowered to provide their input, experience and expertise to development of the potential replacement for European Structural Funding.

If the UK leaves the EU it will no longer receive support from the European Structural Funds. The purpose of these funds is to “invest in job creation and a sustainable and healthy European economy and environment”.  In Scotland, they have played a vital role in reducing disparities across different parts of the country for over 40 years.

Under the current 2014-2020 programme Scotland benefits from over £780m of such funding through the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund. This provides investment for key policies such as our Modern Apprenticeship schemes and our Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. The loss of this funding will have a significant impact on the ability of local authorities, community groups, funding bodies and enterprise and skills agencies to deliver the kinds of initiatives that will drive inclusive economic growth and promote well being and cohesion in communities across Scotland.

The UK Government has indicated its intention to provide successor funding to EU Structural Funds through its proposed UK Shared Prosperity Fund but there is little or no detail as yet on the scale, objectives or allocation of such funding.

The consultation for The Replacement of European Structural Funds In Scotland Post EU-Exit is now live and Inverclyde Businesses are encouraged to get involved in the consultation. You can submit your response, or request further information, via the Scottish Government website.

The deadline for responses is Wednesday 12^th February 2020 so have your say now at: https://gov.scot/publications/replacement-european-structural-funds-scotland-post-eu-exit/

Scottish Government have also recently announced the launch of regional consultation events that will be running in January and February of 2020 alongside the online consultation.

Hannah Reid of Scottish Government’s European Structural Funds, Future Funding, Design and Implementation team said:

“These events will be held across Scotland, each one will be around three hours long, depending on number of attendees. On the day attendees will have a chance to give their views on how best to develop the replacement funding to meet the needs of our citizens, our businesses and our communities.”

Hannah added:

“These events are by invite only and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  We expect that there will high demand for places.”

Places for the Glasgow and West region consultation event can be booked here.