Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), that would also be considered at the meeting of the Council on 4^th December 2018, which set out proposals for the Council to act as accountable body and guarantor for applications under the 2014-2020 European Structural Investment Fund.

The 2014-2020 European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) Programme was launched in March 2015. The Programme would run until 2023 and in the first round, funding for projects running from January 2016 to December 2018, the Council was successful in acquiring £19.75m of funds to manage programmes under the Research and Innovation, Small Medium Enterprises (SME) Competitiveness, Low Carbon and Technical Assistance and Inclusive Labour Market themes.

These had added to the Council’s strong track record in securing European funds in recent years and had secured in excess of £65m from the European Structural Funds since 2007.

However, the current EU funded Programmes were due to come to an end in December 2018 and the Council had submitted bids for Phase 2 programmes which run from January 2019 – December 2021 under the Research and Innovation, Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Competiveness, Low Carbon and Technical assistance themes. Across all the bids the amount being bid for in the Phase 2 round was £10.03m, 39% of the £26m funding made available in this round of Calls.

The Council had already taken a leadership role in bringing partners together from across the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP area to develop projects and programmes that would lead to greater economic growth across the City and the sub region. The Council had an outstanding track record of securing, managing and delivering EU-funded programmes.

The report provided information on each of the bids and requested approval for the Council to act as accountable body and guarantor for these funding programmes.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet recommends that the Council:

1.  Approves (if successful) the drawdown of the grant funding, totalling £10.03m from ESIF to be utilised in delivering the City’s priorities as set out in the report.

2.  Delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) and the Director of Finance and Corporate Services and the City Solicitor, and following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, to negotiate final terms and approve entry into:

(a)  the grant funding agreement to secure the ESIF funding with the City Council acting as the Accountable Body for the funding: and

(b)  back to back funding agreement with such delivery partners as is deemed necessary to deliver the City’s priorities as set out in the report.

3.  Subject to the terms of any agreement with ESIF and the delivery partners being approved by the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) in accordance with the delegation above, authorises the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) to administer the grant agreement with ESIF and the agreements with the delivery partners in accordance with their terms.