In the current 2014-2020 EU structural funds programmes for Wales, we have invested over £2.1 billion of our EU Structural Funds allocation into regional and national projects, driving a total investment of over £4 billion in Wales and EU funds are continuing to provide benefits for businesses, communities and the people of Wales, with latest figures (end of July) showing that EU projects supported by the current programmes have created over 22,400 jobs and over 4,260 new businesses. In addition, some 13,470 businesses have been supported, over 29,410 people have been helped into work, and over 125,270 qualifications have been achieved.
To highlight the achievements and impact of employability schemes in the current programme, WEFO and the Regional Engagement Teams will be running a social media campaign at the end of the month (W/C 20 September) to demonstrate their impressive performance both at a national and regional level, which have helped Wales to lay foundations for long term economic recovery and to re-emphasise the opportunities still available for members of the public to access these schemes.
We are fast approaching the final phase of delivery within the structural funds programmes in Wales and a number of operations and projects will be achieving key project milestones and starting to consider closure events. At this stage, we would like to take the opportunity to remind lead project partners to keep the WEFO communications team informed of your achievements, milestones, success stories and closure event plans in order for us to help you maximise publicity through our channels and consider Ministerial involvement.
In terms of closure procedures in general, a reminder that project closure guidance is available on the Welsh Government website
Read the project closure guidance for Structural Fund projects.
Read the guidance on closure procedures for Ireland-Wales co-operation projects.
If you have any further queries on this, please contact and discuss with your Project Development Officer in the first instance.
The Covid-19 epidemic has had a significant impact on some EU funded operations, for example, the delivery of face to face activities with ESF participants which had to be curtailed and the disruption of a number of collaborative activities for Research, Development and Innovation operations. However it is worth noting this has also bought about new innovative ways for operations to deliver these activities remotely/online.
Whilst it is too early to judge the full impact of Covid, WEFO has commissioned an independent review of indicator performance during 2021 to help inform future delivery and to assess if any programme modifications are required. As part of this review, project leads may be contacted by evaluators and we would like to encourage you to fully engage and participate in this process as your insight and experiences will form an important part of the review and its conclusions.