According to the Scottish Government, the rationale for this model is:
Managing strategic interventions through lead partners has some very specific advantages for Scotland:
It gives us the tighter focus required by the [European] Commission
It gives us up-front agreement on what outcomes and impacts the programmes should achieve
It ensures funding stability (Funds and match) in the long term for important areas of work; and
It manages the audit burden at a higher level, allowing smaller organisations to focus on what they do best...