Select committee: Welsh Affairs Committee
Conclusion 3
4th Report: Wales and the Shared Prosperity Fund: Priorities for the replacement of EU structural funding
Published 2 Oct 2020
Paragraph 36
Addressed to Wales Office
Welsh Affairs Committee Wales and the Shared Prosperity Fund All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We acknowledge the difficulties in assessing the impact of ESI funds in Wales, particularly in the absence of the counterfactual question of what would have happened without them. However, it is clear that while certain sectors, particularly higher education, the arts and charities have benefitted substantially, these fund have not been able, and were not expected on their own, to deliver a transformative change for the Welsh economy, as the policies of both the UK and the Welsh Government would also have played a pivotal role in determining the benefits to Wales, particularly those of the Welsh Government. Wales continues to qualify for EU Structural Funding and lags significantly behind other regions of the UK and EU.
From: Welsh Affairs Committee, 4th Report: Wales and the Shared Prosperity Fund: Priorities for the replacement of EU structural funding (HC 90), paragraph 36, 2 October 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 December 2020 (deadline 2 December 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government responds to each of the Committee's six recommendations, setting out its plans for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and intending to work with the Welsh Government, without stating that it accepts or rejects individual recommendations.
- On funding levels, the government says it "will ramp up" UKSPF investment so that UK-wide domestic funding "will at least match current EU receipts, on average reaching around £1.5 billion a year".
- It states it will provide £220m of additional funding in 2021-22 for local areas to pilot programmes and new approaches, with further details "in the New Year".
- On bureaucracy, it "recognises the bureaucratic burden" of EU structural funds and says details of the UKSPF's operation will be set out in a UK-wide investment framework "published in the spring".
- On working with the Welsh Government, it says it "intends to work with" it and local communities, and that the UKSPF's funding profile "will be set out at the next Spending Review".