ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COHESION (11375/06)
Letter from the Chairman to Rt Hon Margaret
Hodge MP, Minister of State for Industry and the Regions, Department
of Trade and Industry
Thank you very much for your Explanatory Memorandum
11375/06. This was considered by Sub-Committee A at their meeting
on 17 October.
The Sub-Committee has decided to clear the document
from scrutiny, however we would be grateful if you could keep
us informed on what the Government's response to the consultation,
which closed on 22 May 2006 as mentioned in paragraph 28 of your
Explanatory Memorandum, will be. We would also like to hear what
actions the Government are taking to offer full support to the
Commission for the successful implementation of the JEREMIE initiative,
as was requested (under Paragraph 2.6.2 of the Communication).
24 October 2006
Letter from Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP to
the Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 24 October, about
the above Explanatory Memorandum. I welcome your confirmation
that your Committee has cleared the document from scrutiny.
On 23 October the Government published its response
to the public consultation on a draft UK National Strategic Reference
Framework for the EU Structural Funds 2007-13. I have attached
a copy for information.[8]
The Government's response, together with the
final UK National Framework, set out the strategy for future Structural
Funds spending across the UK, the allocations of funding for future
Programmes, and the administrative arrangements for delivering
the Programmes. The strategy establishes three high-level priorities
for future Programmes: enterprise and innovation, skills and employment,
and environmental and community sustainability.
Turning to the Joint European Resources for
Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) initiative, the Government
has championed the use of financial engineering instruments to
support enterprise and Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
We indicated our strong support for JEREMIE at its launch by the
European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB)/European
Investment Fund (ElF) in October 2005. We are committed to, and
already taking an active part in, the analysis phase of JEREMIE
in conjunction with the ElF. Once this analysis has been completed
it will help to inform the UK's decision as to the best possible
financial architecture for getting the most from the UK's Structural
Funds receipts.
13 November 2006
8 Can be found at www.dti.gov.uk/consultations Back
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