Chamber and committees

Replacing EU Structural Funds in Scotland

Background

The Committee has started to scrutinise what funding will replace EU Structural Funds in Scotland.

When the United Kingdom (UK) was part of the European Union (EU), the UK received funding to reduce economic inequality from EU structural funds (EUSF).

Under the EU’s 2014-2020 budget, Scotland was allocated up to €944 million in structural funding.

During this time, the Scottish Government played a key role in directing where funding in Scotland was spent.  Under EU rules, EU funds needed to be matched by equal money from the Scottish budget.

Replacing EU funds, post-Brexit

After leaving the EU, the UK Government has said it will:

• at least match these EU funds “through the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund on average reaching around £1.5 billion a year” starting from April 2022;
• make available across the UK between March 2020 and March 2021, funding of £220 million in a Community Renewal Fund;
• provide £4 billion for a “levelling up” fund for England with £800 million set aside for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

How is this funding provided?

Money from the Levelling up Fund is now available to bid for across the UK. In Scotland, it is Local Authorities that can bid for and lead on delivery of this fund.

In Scotland, it is also Local Authorities that can bid for funding from the Community Renewal Fund.

These new funds represent a potentially significant amount of money to be spent in Scotland, that is not provided through the usual Scottish Government budget process.

Views from Scottish Local Authorities

The Finance and Public Administration Committee has therefore agreed to start its work by seeking views from Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Local Authorities’ Economic Development (SLAED) Group on these funds.

SPICe Summary of Written Submissions

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a summary of the written submissions received:

SPICe Summary of Written Submissions

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Oral Evidence

The Committee took evidence on the following dates:

Thursday 24 February 2022

The Committee took evidence from:

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, UK Government.

Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) of this meeting