Supplementary note submitted by the European
Commission (ESF 19D)
The following text presents how the England
Objective 3 operational programme is performing.
The "N+2 rule" (article 31.2.§2
of Regulation 1260/1999) refers to the ruling that the Commission
shall automatically withdraw any part of a commitment which has
not been settled by the payment on account or for which it has
not received an acceptable payment application by the end of the
second year following the year of commitment.
1. Financial progress
The table below shows the level of commitment
(project approvals) and expenditure for each Measure in the programme
and is based on project approvals and declared expenditure at
28 February 2003.
Objective 3: Commitment and expenditure
at 28 February 2003 (€million)
|
| Measure | Project Approvals
| Declared
Expenditure
| Programme
Allocations
| % Spend:
Allocation
| % Approval
Allocation
|
|
| 1.1 | 49.8 |
23.7 | 103.6
| 22.8 | 48.1
|
| 1.2 | 445.8 |
184.8 | 932.3
| 19.8 | 47.8
|
| 2.1 | 83.7 |
29.3 | 204.6
| 15.3 | 43.7
|
| 2.2 | 459.7 |
202.3 | 767.1
| 25.6 | 58.2
|
| 2.3 | 16.9 |
3.7 | 51.1
| 8.8 | 40.5
|
| 3.1 | 437.2 |
131.1 | 808.8
| 16.2 | 54.1
|
| 3.2 | 202.6 |
44.2 | 346.6
| 12.7 | 58.4
|
| 4.1 | 115.5 |
38.4 | 209.7
| 18.3 | 55.1
|
| 4.2 | 127.6 |
41.1 | 235.9
| 17.4 | 54.1
|
| 4.3 | 50.7 |
17.3 | 78.6
| 21.9 | 64.4
|
| 5.1 | 70.3 |
25.5 | 202.1
| 12.1 | 33.4
|
| 5.2 | 9.2 |
1.3 | 86.6
| 1.6 | 11.7
|
| 6.1—TA | 9.2
| 4.5 | 30.8
| 14.6 | 29.8
|
| 6.2—TA | 2.9
| 1.5 | 53.9
| 2.7 | 5.4
|
| Total | 2,081.1
| 464.2 | 4,111.6
| 18.2 | 50.6
|
|
2. Progress towards the N+2 target of the 2001 instalment
The current position is satisfactory.
Objective 3
N+2 progress at 28 February 2003 (€m)
|
| Region | Total OP
allocation
| 2003 expenditure "target"
related
to the 2001
instalment
| ESF Declared expenditure
(including
advance)
| % spend against
2003 "target"
|
|
| West Midlands | 462.9
| 135.1 | 123.3
| 91.3 |
| Yorkshire/Humber | 298.3
| 87.0 | 83.4
| 95.8 |
| East Midlands | 285.5
| 85.3 | 70.8
| 83.1 |
| North East | 312.9
| 91.3 | 94.9
| 104.0 |
| East of England | 298.8
| 87.2 | 76.1
| 87.3 |
| London | 652.7
| 189.5 | 173.1
| 91.3 |
| South West | 218.8
| 63.8 | 68.2
| 106.8 |
| North West | 401.7
| 117.2 | 135.2
| 115.4 |
| South East | 366
| 106.8 | 104.3
| 97.6 |
| Gibraltar | 7.2
| 2.1 | 1.0
| 49.8 |
| National/Central | 806.9
| 183.9 | 106.6
| 57.9 |
| Total | 4,111.7
| 1,149.2 | 1,037.1
| 90.2 |
|
Declared expenditure (including the advance) across the programme
achieves already 90% of the N+2 target for 2003.
The N+2 target for 2000 was met.
For the N+2 target for 2001, everything indicates that this
target will be met without difficulties.
€853,948,623.741[10] have
been paid by the Commission to the England Objective 3 programme.
A payment application of €200 million is currently (beginning of May 2003) being processed
by the Commission's services.
3. Performance indicators and performance reserve
The performance reserve indicators are designed to reflect
programme effectiveness, programme management and financial implementation.
Performance will as a result be measured against indicators that
relate to each programme rather than in comparison with other
programmes. The indicators for the England Objective 3 Operational
Programme have been chosen in consultation with the European Commission.
For programme effectiveness the emphasis is on quantifiable indicators
to enable objective judgements to be made on performance. On programme
management, the emphasis is on quality criteria reflecting the
way in which project monitoring, control and selection procedures
are organised. The third category, financial implementation, measures
the take-up of programme funds.
The indicators are monitored annually so that progress can
be reviewed and remedial action taken if necessary prior to the
mid-term evaluation. Achievements against individual indicators
at 31 December 2002 is set out below.
Effectiveness Criteria
|
| Indicator | Target
| Achieved at 31/12/2002
|
|
| Overall | |
|
| % in work on leaving | 41%
| 48% |
| % gaining positive outcomes on leaving |
80% | 76%
|
| % young people unemployed less than six months
| 87% | 53%
|
| % adults unemployed less than 12 months |
36% | 46%
|
| % beneficiaries completing their courses |
75% | 88%
|
| % gaining a qualification | 50%
| 41% |
| Active labour market policies |
| |
| % women receiving support | 42%
| 44% |
| Social inclusion | |
|
| % women receiving support | 42%
| 41% |
| Lifelong Learning |
| |
| % women receiving support | 50%
| 56% |
| % working towards a qualification | 100%
| 93% |
| Adaptability and entrepreneurship |
| |
| % women receiving support | 33%
| 43% |
| Gender equality | |
|
| % women beneficiaries | 100%
| 99% |
|
Management Criteria
|
| Indicator | Target
| Achieved at 31/12/2002
|
|
| Quality of monitoring systems |
| |
| % projects providing financial and monitoring data.
| 100% | 100%
|
| Quality of financial control |
| |
| % expenditure to be covered by annual financial and management audits
| 5% | 7%
|
| Quality of project selection systems
| | |
| % expenditure committed to projects selected competitively using identified selection criteria
| 100% | 100%
|
| Quality of evaluation system |
| |
| Mid-term evaluation of the programme is independent and acceptable to the UK ESF Evaluation Steering Group.
|
|
Financial Criteria
|
| Indicator | Target
| Achieved at 31/12/2002
|
|
| Absorption of funds |
| |
|
| % funds taken up in programming year, measured two years afterwards
| 100% | 151%
|
|
The financial indicator is based on payments made by the
European Commission (including the programme advance) at 31 December
2002 against the 2002 N+2 target.
4. Assessing the Performance Reserve
In order to assess achievement of the performance reserve
targets, the Commission suggested that a synthesis judgement indicator
(SJI) should be developed. Achievement of performance reserve
could then be judged by considering performance against a single
indicator.
The table below sets out proposals for such an indicator.
All of the agreed indicators except the one covering the quality
of the evaluation are based on numeric targets and are included
in the proposal. Weightings have been applied to a number of the
indicators that apply at Priority level by taking the amount of
ESF in the Programme Complement (excluding Technical Assistance)
and deriving the proportion of ESF available to each Priority.
10
7% payment on account (€287,811,482) included. Back
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