14 European Social Fund
| (27449)
8685/06
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| Special report No. 1/2006 of the European Court of Auditors on the contribution of the European Social Fund in combating early school leaving
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 26 April 2006
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| Deposited in Parliament | 2 May 2006
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| Department | Work and Pensions
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 10 May 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
14.1 In March 2000, as part of the Lisbon Strategy, the European
Council agreed that:
"By 2010, all Member States should have at least halved the
rate of early school leavers,[47]
in reference to the rate recorded in the year 2000, in order to
achieve an EU average of 10% or less.[48]"
14.2 In 2002, the Community's Guidelines for the Employment Policies
of Member States said that Member States should achieve a substantial
reduction in the number of early school leavers by developing
remedial measures and improving the quality of education and training
systems.
14.3 Article 146 of the EC Treaty provides for the
establishment of the European Social Fund. The purpose of the
Fund is to improve employment opportunities and increase the geographical
and occupational mobility of people within the Community. The
Fund contributes to the achievement of the European Employment
Guidelines by making financial contributions to the cost of projects
in Member States, including projects to reduce the number of early
school leavers.
The Special Report
14.4 The objective of the European Court of Auditors'
audit was to assess whether the procedures in the Commission and
six Member States were adequate to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness
of projects financed jointly by the European Social Fund and the
Member States with the aim of reducing early school leaving (ESL).
The projects included: special needs classes; attendance monitoring
schemes; teaching of social skills; counselling; and the development
and provision of curricula tailored to the needs of young people
who were at risk of leaving early or who had already left school
prematurely.
14.5 The six Member States examined during the audit
were France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the
UK. They were chosen because of their high rates of ESL and their
use of the European Social Fund to tackle the problem.
14.6 The European Court of Auditors summarises the
findings of its audit as follows:
"(a) ESF [European Social Fund] co-financed
activities for ESL were initiated without adequate analysis of
the existing situation and the expected and targeted results;
(b) in most cases, Member States' authorities could
not sufficiently demonstrate their justification for the overall
level of funding allocated to actions, nor could they justify
the allocation of ESF funding to different regions on the basis
of the level of ESL experienced;
(c) the use of varying definitions of ESL within
a Member State has not facilitated the targeting of geographic
areas for assistance nor the measurement of the impact of initiatives.
On a wider level, efforts to adopt the Eurostat definition would
assist Community efforts in tackling the problem of ESL;
(d) Member States experienced difficulties in identifying
the population targeted by their actions …; and
(e) little quantitative evaluation was generally
available on the results or impact of the co-financed programmes
that aimed to reduce ESL …"[49]
14.7 The Court of Auditors recommends that the Commission
should:
- where, necessary, give guidance
to Member States with the aim if ensuring that the use of Community
funds is efficient, effective and economical; and
- satisfy itself that Member States' management
systems "adhere to the principles of economy, efficiency
and effectiveness in conformity with Community's regulations".
14.8 The Court of Auditors also recommends that Member
States, in co-operation with the Commission, should:
- properly define and identify
the incidence of ESL;
- create or strengthen procedures to identify,
and target assistance to, the children who are most at risk of
leaving school prematurely;
- encourage the exchange of information and best
practice between the local and national organisations responsible
for dealing with ESL; and
- promote innovative ways of using the European
Social Fund to tackle ESL.
14.9 The Special Report has three annexes:
- the table in Annex 1 shows,
for each year between 1994 and 2004 and by Member State, the percentage
of the population aged 18-24 with at most lower secondary education
and who were not in further education or training;
- Annex 2 summarises the projects the Court of
Auditors examined and comments on them; and
- Annex 3 reproduces the Commission's extensive
response to the Special Report.
14.10 The section about the UK in Annex 2 says that
the original target group was young people of 13-17 who were at
risk of leaving school prematurely. Subsequently, the target group
was limited to people of 16-18 who were not in education or training.
In England, the financial contribution from the European Social
Fund was allocated to Government regional offices and by them
to county learning and skills councils. The projects were run
by educational and voluntary bodies and included training courses,
job placements, vocational and personal counselling, and activities
in and out of school.
14.11 The Court of Auditors comments that:
"one of the difficulties with the co-financed
activities [in the UK] … was that there was no common programme
or framework of commonly identifiable features. Against the backdrop
of a plethora of national initiatives catering for youth education
and other target groups …, no specific identity or role for
ESF funding in this area was discernible. This lack of a common
approach also manifested itself in the targeting and risk assessments
that accompanied projects. Furthermore, the lack of proper analytical
tools for tackling the ESL problem and the absence of shared information
between responsible authorities at regional and local level also
influenced the effectiveness of operations. Nevertheless, good
practices were evident within individual projects as regards coordination
of participating schools and evaluation practices. Furthermore,
ESF funding also attracted voluntary charitable support in providing
courses and activities."[50]
14.12 In its response to the Special Report, the
Commission asserts that it has an appropriate monitoring and control
mechanism to ensure respect for the principles of sound financial
management but that there is room for further improvement. It
will implement the recommendations addressed to the Commission.
The recommendations addressed to the Member States:
"must be assessed in the light of the Member
States' specific responsibilities as regards the planning of management
and control for the Structural Funds. ESF measures in the ESL
field are part of a broader national policy context and must be
analysed accordingly. The definition and implementation of measures
to combat early school leaving take account of the national character
of education policies and strategy."[51]
The Government's view
14.13 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the Department of Work and Pensions (Mr James Plaskitt) refers
to the Commission's response and tells us that the Government
welcomes the additional support its employment and skills policies,
including those on early school leaving, receive from the European
Social Fund. He says that, in the light of the Court of Auditors'
findings, the Government has amended its European Social Fund
programme for 2000-06 to clarify the target groups for support.
The recommendations will inform the European Social Fund programmes
for 2007-13.
Conclusion
14.14 We consider that reports by the European
Court of Auditors, such as this one, can make a valuable contribution
to improving the administration of public funds and achieving
policy objectives. Both for that reason, and because of the importance
of reducing the number of young people who leave education and
training prematurely, we draw the Special Report to the attention
of the House.
14.15 There are, however, no points arising from
the Report that we need pursue with the Minister and we are, therefore,
content to clear it from scrutiny.
47 "Early school leaver" was defined in terms
of the number of people aged 18 to 24 with lower secondary education
or less and who were not in education or training. Back
48
In the year 2000, 19.3% of young people in the then 15 Member
States were estimated to have left school prematurely. Back
49
Special Report, pages 4 and 5. Back
50
Special Report, Annex 2, page 11. Back
51
Special Report, Annex 3, page 2. Back
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