Select committee: Welsh Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
4th Report: Wales and the Shared Prosperity Fund: Priorities for the replacement of EU structural funding
Published 2 Oct 2020
Paragraph 60
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
In the current changing economic circumstances, we are unable to recommend a headline figure for Wales’ allocation of the Shared Prosperity Fund. However, we call on the Government to honour its commitment to maintain at least the current levels of real-term funding and to carefully consider the arguments for increased spending. Given that the full effects of COVID-19 could be unknown for some time, it should monitor the current economic situation in Wales and adjust its allocation accordingly. Ministers should provide reassurance that multi-year funding will continue and work with the Welsh Government to give serious thought to the potential methods of calculating Wales’ funding requirements. They should update us with their thinking on the size of the Fund and means of allocation as soon as possible.
From: Welsh Affairs Committee, 4th Report: Wales and the Shared Prosperity Fund: Priorities for the replacement of EU structural funding (HC 90), paragraph 60, 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".