UK Shared Prosperity Fund Update
North Lanarkshire Council · 29 August 2022
Back to Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee — 29 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
North Lanarkshire Council Report Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref UKSPF/YW Date 29/08/22 UK Shared Prosperity Fund Update From Pamela Humphries, Head of Planning and Regeneration E-mail Weiry@northlan.gov.uk Telephone Yvonne Weir 07508 001238 Executive Summary This report provides an update on progress and activities being undertaken to develop North Lanarkshire’s investment priorities and interventions for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF or the Fund) is a central pillar of the UK government’s levelling up agenda and succeeds the former EU funding received by the UK. Funding of £2.5bn has been put in place from April 2022 to March 2025 across the UK to provide a mix of capital and revenue funding for projects which meet the Fund’s 3 investment priorities: communities and place; support for local businesses and people and skills. North Lanarkshire has received a conditional allocation of £13,871,047 of which £11,475,646 is core UKSPF funding and £2,395,402 is ringfenced for Multiply activity to support adult numeracy activities for individuals aged 19+. Following agreement by the 8 local authorities within the Glasgow City Region (GCR), a single Investment Plan based on the investment priorities and interventions identified by the member authorities will be submitted to the UK Government for the £73.9M of funding allocated to GCR on 1st September 2022 subject to the approval of the Investment Plan at the GCR Cabinet on 30th August 2022. Approvals of the investment plans are expected from October 2022 although spend on activities can be incurred at risk from 1 April 2022. The development of the investment priorities and associated output and outcome measures for North Lanarkshire has been developed in consultation with a range of internal and external stakeholders and reflects agreed council priorities through the Plan for North Lanarkshire and related Programme of Work.
Page 2
1. Background 1.1 The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF or the Fund) is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda. It succeeds the EU Structural Funds (primarily European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund) within the UK. Although the concept of the UKSPF was first outlined in 2017, very little substantive information was made available until pre-launch guidance was published on 2nd February 2022. This was followed up by the publication of a full prospectus on 13th April 2022 by the UK Government. 1.2 The UKSPF will provide £2.6bn of new capital and revenue funding across the UK for local investment up to 31 March 2025. The funding is split over three financial years as follows: £400m for 2022-23, £700m for 2023-24 and ramping up to £1.5bn for 2024-25. 1.3 All areas of the UK have received a conditional allocation of funding based on a funding formula rather than direct competition for the funds. A total of £212m has been allocated to Scotland (8.4% of the UK total). The share accruing to Scotland is broadly equivalent to its share of EU Structural Funds for the 2014-20 period. The 8 authorities in the Glasgow City Region have received a combined allocation of £73.9m which is approximately 34.9% of the Scottish allocation. 1.4 North Lanarkshire has received a conditional allocation of £13,871,047 of which £11,475,646 is core UKSPF funding and £2,395,402 is ringfenced for delivery of activity under “Multiply” (i.e. activity to support adult numeracy activities for individuals aged 19+). There are pre-determined percentages for capital and revenue on an annual basis with a minimum amount that can be spend on capital. Places can choose to spend more on capital should they wish. Funding for Multiply is fixed and cannot be altered. Areas can also utilise 4% of their allocation to undertake necessary Fund administration including project assessment, contracting, monitoring and evaluation and ongoing stakeholder engagement. Recommendations It is recommended that the Committee: (1) Considers the content of this report; (2) Approves the proposed North Lanarkshire investment priorities as set out in Appendix 1 (3) Notes that the Glasgow City Region Investment Plan will be submitted to the UK Government for approval on 1st September, subject to approval at GCR Cabinet on 30th August. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (21) Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions
Page 3
1.5 North Lanarkshire’s specific allocation over the first 3-years of the Fund is broken down as follows: CORE UKSPF North Lanarkshire 22/23 23/24 24/25 Total Core UKSPF £1,392,675 £2,785,351 £7,297,619 £11,475,646 Multiply £724,191 £835,605 £835,605 £2,395,402 Total £2,116,866 £3,620,956 £8,133,224 £13,871,047 Objectives of the Fund and Investment Priorities 1.6 The UKSPF is seeking to support the UK government’s wider commitment to level up all parts of the UK by delivering on each of the levelling up objectives: • Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging • Spread opportunities and improve public services, especially in those places where they are weakest • Restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost • Empower local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency 1.7 The primary goal of the UKSPF is to build pride in place and increase life chances across the UK. Underneath this overarching aim, there are three UKSPF investment priorities: • Communities and place • Supporting local business • People and skills In addition, the new programme “Multiply” has a specific budget within the UKSPF as outlined above to support adult numeracy skills across all areas. 1.8 The objectives of the Communities and Place Investment Priority are: • To strengthen social fabric and to foster a sense of local pride and belonging through investment in activities that enhance physical, cultural and social ties and access to amenities such as community infrastructure and local green space and community led projects; and • To build resilient, healthy and safe neighbourhoods through investment in quality places in which people want to live work play and learn through targeted improvements to the built and natural environment together with innovative approaches to crime prevention. 1.9 The objectives of the Supporting Local Businesses Investment Priority are: • To create jobs and boost community cohesion, through investments that build on existing industries and institutions and range from support for starting businesses to visible improvements to local retail, hospitality and leisure sector facilities; • To promote networking and collaboration, through interventions that bring together businesses and partners within and across sectors to share knowledge, expertise and resources and stimulate innovation and growth; and • To increase private sector investment in growth enhancing activities, through targeted support for small and medium sized businesses to undertake new to firm
Page 4
innovation, adopt productivity enhancing energy efficient and low carbon technologies and techniques, and to start or grow their exports. 1.10 The objectives of the People and Skills Investment Priority are: • To boost core skills and support adults to progress in work by targeting adults with no or low-level qualifications and skills in maths and upskill the working population, yielding personal and societal economic impact and by encouraging innovative approaches to reducing adult education barriers; • To reduce levels of economic inactivity through investment in bespoke intensive life and employment support tailored to local need. Investment should facilitate the join- up of mainstream provision and local services within an area for participants, through the use of one-to-one keyworker support, improving employment outcomes for specific cohorts who face labour market barriers; • To support people furthest from the labour market to overcome barriers to work by providing cohesive, locally tailored support including access to basic skills; and • To support local areas to fund gaps in local skills provision to support people to progress in work, and supplement local adult skills provision e.g. by providing additional volumes; delivering provision through wider range of routes or enabling more intensive/innovative provision, both qualification based and non-qualification based. This should be supplementary to provision available through national employment and skills programmes. 1.11 The Interventions List for Scotland which is one of the accompanying documents to the UKSPF prospectus sets out a menu of 51 suggested interventions across the three investment priorities. Whilst places are encouraged to select from this menu, places can also consider bespoke interventions that meet the unique needs of their community and place. Beyond the earmarked allocation for Multiply there is flexibility regarding the allocations areas can make across the 3 investment priorities. 1.12 In order to access the conditional allocations of funding through the UKSPF, local areas are required to set out measurable outcomes that reflect local challenges, needs and opportunities which inform the interventions the area wishes to deliver across the three investment priorities. These interventions, outputs and outcomes are required to be set out in an Investment Plan which must be submitted to the UK government for approval. Glasgow City Region Approach 1.13 The pre-launch guidance encouraged, but did not mandate, the use of regional economic partnerships (largely based on city/growth deals) as the spatial basis for preparing Investment Plans in Scotland. 1.14 The Glasgow City Region Cabinet, at its meeting held on 15th February 2022 agreed: • in principle to pursue a regional approach to management of the UKSPF and to authorise the Director of Regional Economic Growth to formally notify the UK Government of this approach; and • that the Investment Plan be developed in conjunction with all 8 Member Authorities, with all necessary approvals at both regional and local level prior to final submission in Summer 2022. 1.15 A Glasgow City Region Head of Shared Prosperity Fund has now been appointed and a working group of the UKSPF Officer leads in each local authority has been
Page 5
established. This Group meets on a regular basis and is also liaising with UK Government representatives. 1.16 It should be noted that while the intention is to submit a single Investment Plan covering the City Region, most of the delivery and project management will remain at local authority level. There may be some limited interventions in future years, linked to the priorities identified in the GCR Regional Economic Strategy, that might be undertaken at a City Region level should there be funding available. 1.17 Whilst the original window of submissions for investment plans was 30 June to 1 August 2022, GCR has received an extension to 1st September 2022 to enable member authority and GCR Cabinet approvals to be sought. It is anticipated that approvals will be made from October 2022. 2. Report North Lanarkshire Investment Plan Approach 2.1 The Council has considerable flexibility in terms of the interventions that can be supported in North Lanarkshire as part of the Glasgow City Region Investment Plan. In developing the local investment plan, it is proposed that the Council should deliver selected interventions under all three investment priorities set out in the prospectus including the Multiply intervention. 2.2 The Investment Plan does not require the submission of fully scoped projects. Instead, it requires the selection of interventions from the menu of 51 interventions based on local priorities, challenges and opportunities, and indicative spend and outputs/outcomes to be selected against them from the overall funding allocations. 2.3 There has been engagement with a range of internal and external stakeholders to identify and prioritise key projects, activities and interventions that could be delivered across the three investment priorities. As outlined in the background section of this report, the UKSPF themes, objectives and interventions are a strong fit with the Council’s, and wider stakeholder’s, plans and strategies for the area. All the interventions proposed for selection align and support strategic objectives identified within key strategies and Programmes of Work including, but not limited to, the Plan for North Lanarkshire, the Workforce for the Future Strategy, the Economic Regeneration Delivery Plan, Developing the Young Workforce, the North Lanarkshire Community Learning and Development Partnership Plan, the North Lanarkshire Tourism Strategy and Action Plan, the North Lanarkshire Social Enterprise Framework and Action Plan and the Tackling Poverty Action Plan. There is also a strong alignment to the GCR Regional Economic Strategy and national plans, strategies and funding. 2.4 It is proposed that in line with the flexibility offered within the UKSPF prospectus that North Lanarkshire based interventions will be delivered through a mixture of in-house project delivery, procurement, commissioning, grants to businesses/organisations, and via challenge funds. The UK Government’s default approach is via challenge funds. This mixed approach will enable third sector organisations, businesses and local groups to bid for funding through identified challenge or grant funds within relevant interventions as well as any procured or commissioned services. 2.5 In addition to the consideration of new interventions, the continuation of funding for the current EU funded activity has also been considered. This includes: Employability Pipeline activity; the Business Recovery and Growth Fund; Lanarkshire Business Gateway Expert Help Framework; the Smart Hub Lanarkshire and resources related to
Page 6
undertaking delivery, monitoring and compliance of EU funding. Current EU funding will continue into mid-late 2023 subject to Scottish Government approval of extensions to spend. Consideration will also be required to be given to any lessons learned from activity funded through the Community Renewal Fund which was the precursor to UKSPF following evaluations later this year. 2.6 An initial draft of the council’s proposed Investment Plan and likely interventions has been reviewed by GCR and the UK Government. The feedback on the submissions by all 8 local authorities has been positive and synergies among several interventions have been identified. 2.7 Across the interventions, the proposed split of funding within each of the investment priorities is summarised in the table below. Appendix 1 gives a breakdown of the specific interventions and a summary of the activities that are proposed to be delivered within each of the investment priorities. Yr1 UKSPF Yr2 UKSPF Yr3 UKSPF TOTAL UKSPF Communities & Place £ 506,427 £350,000 £2,265,000 £3,121,427 Supporting Local Business £91,541 £746,083 £1,667,738 £2,505,362 People and Skills £739,000 £1,577,854 £3,072,976 £5,389,830 Multiply £695,223 £802,181 £802,181 £2,299,585 NLC Management/Admin 4% £84,675 £144,838 £325,329 £554,842 TOTAL £2,116,866 £3,620,955 £8,133,224 £13,871,045 2.8 Looking more specifically at the allocations across the 3 investment priorities of Communities and Place, Supporting Local business and People and Skills, the proposed split between them in relation to the core UKSPF funding is as follows: Proportion of Available Funding: Total Communities and Place 28% Supporting Local Business 23% People & Skills 49% The higher proportion in People and Skills reflects funding proposed for the delivery of employability activity, the Academy Model and Developing the Young Workforce activities aligned to the council’s Workforce for the Future Strategy. 2.9 In relation to Capital/Revenue split, the proposed capital allocation has exceeded the minimum capital requirements. Whilst there has been no maximum for capital stated by the UK Government, justification is required for amounts which exceed the minimum. Officers believe the split for North Lanarkshire can be justified and is reasonable. Whilst there is a shortfall in year 2 against the minimum, this is exceeded in years 1 and years 3 with the overall minimum exceeded over the 3 years. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 TOTAL
Page 7
Capital - NLC £ 317,500 £ 50,000 £ 1,525,000 £ 1,892,500 Capital % 24% 2% 22% Min Capital £ 137,596 £ 330,760 £ 1,240,960 £ 1,709,317 Min Capital % 10.4% 12.5% 17.9% Stakeholder Engagement 2.10 The UKSPF prospectus stresses the importance of stakeholder engagement in the development of Investment Plans including consultation with MPs. A series of initial discussions, consultation events and presentations have been undertaken to-date. These have included the North Lanarkshire Local Employability Partnership, the Lanarkshire Economic Forum, the Tackling Poverty Officers Action Group, the North Lanarkshire CVS Forum, the North Lanarkshire Partnership Strategic Leadership Board, NHS Lanarkshire, and Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire. Some specific funding requests from external bodies have been received and allocations have been included that would enable these organisations to bid for and potentially access funding. Key Dates 2.11 The following table summarises the key dates and milestones. DATE ACTIVITY 13 April 2022 Fund Launch April-May 2022 Engagement sessions with local authorities and other local partners to support the investment plan process. April-June/July 2022 Lead local authorities work with stakeholders to develop local investment plans. Summer 2022 Further guidance published including guidance on monitoring benefits and evaluation, assurance, subsidy control, branding and publicity. 4th July 2022 Submission of high-level North Lanarkshire investment plan to Glasgow City Region 1st August 2022 Completion of the GCR Investment Plan 30th August 2022 GCR Cabinet Meeting to consider investment plan 1st September 2022 Submission of GCR investment plan to the UK Government July-September 2022 Indicative investment plan assessment period for UK government. October 2022 onwards Anticipated date for first investment plans to be approved. October 2022 onwards Anticipated first payment to be made to lead local authorities 1st April 2023 Second year advance payment to be made to lead local authorities 1st April 2024 Third year advance payment to be made to lead local authorities 31st March 2025 Three-year funding period ends 3. Measures of success 3.1 To maximise North Lanarkshire’s allocation of UKSPF funding totalling £13,817,047 by 31 March 2025 to achieve outputs and outcomes that positively deliver against the priorities and ambitions of the Plan for North Lanarkshire and related Programmes of Work.
Page 8
4. Supporting documentation 4.1 The UKSPF prospectus can be viewed at: UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 4.2 The UKSPF Interventions List for Scotland can be viewed at: Interventions list for Scotland - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 4.3 Appendix 1: Proposed North Lanarkshire Investment Plan Activities Pamela Humphries Head of Planning and Regeneration
Page 9
5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? An assessment is being carried out on the proposed high level North Lanarkshire investment plan. More detailed assessments will be required on individual projects or activities delivered under the Plan as they come on-stream. The GCR investment plan requires detail on how the Public Sector Equality Duty has been considered in the design of the investment plan and how it will be considered when implementing the investment plan including the selection of projects. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? North Lanarkshire has received a conditional allocation of £13,871,047 of which £11,475,646 is core UKSPF funding and £2,395,402 is ringfenced for Multiply activity to support adult numeracy activities for individuals aged 19+. The UK Government has made £40,000 available to GCR to undertake initial preparatory work for the Fund. The Council has the ability to use 4% of its allocation by default to undertake necessary Fund administration including project assessment, contracting, monitoring and evaluation and ongoing stakeholder engagement. Where the 4% is not fully required, this can be used to fund interventions. Where more than 4% is required, a case by exception can be made. Each lead local authority will be paid annually in advance. In 2022-23, funding will be paid once the GCR investment plan has been signed off. In 2023-24 and 2024-25, payment will be at the start of the financial year. Lead local authorities will receive a grant determination letter and Memorandum of Understanding setting out Fund requirements and obligations. It is important to note that Lead local authorities may be asked to return any underspends at the end of each financial year unless there are credible plans setting out how the lead local authority will utilise underspends in the next year and/or appropriate milestones and spend have been achieved for the previous year. Funding can also be back-dated to 1 April 2022 at risk. As well as consideration of new interventions, consideration has been made to the continuation of the council’s current EU funded activity which includes Employability
Page 10
Pipeline activity, Business Recovery and Growth Fund, Lanarkshire Business Gateway Expert Help Framework, the Smart Hub Lanarkshire and resources who undertake delivery, monitoring and compliance of EU funding. Current EU funding which currently equates to approximately £2m of funding per annum will continue into mid-late 2023 subject to Scottish Government approval of extensions to spend. Consideration will also be required to the lessons learned from activity funded through the Community Renewal Fund which was the precursor to UKSPF following evaluations later this year. Should there be any underspends of annual budgets, further detail on how these will be treated is still to be confirmed. There is no guarantee that all underspends can be carried forward but the UK Government had advised it will consider credible plans setting out how the lead local authority will utilise underspends in the next year and/or appropriate milestones and spend have been achieved for the previous year. Whilst no match funding is required under the UKSPF to access the allocation or will be considered as part of the assessment criteria, local authorities are being strongly encouraged to consider match funding from the private, public and third sector when selecting interventions under the communities and place and support local business priorities. It has been agreed by GCR Chief Executive’s Group that each member authority will determine match funding requirements at a local level. It has been proposed for North Lanarkshire that match funding will be sought where available to maximise impact and reach of the UKSPF but that this will not prevent activities from being taken forward where there is no match available. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Approval has been received to appoint an Enterprise Development Manager with a focus on funding to oversee the development, management and delivery of the UKSPF and other external funds. There are existing staff across the council who are currently involved in the delivery, monitoring and compliance of existing EU funded and Community Renewal Fund activities. It is anticipated these staff will support the monitoring and compliance of the UKSPF as EU/CRF activities decrease and UKSPF activities come on-stream and increase in scale. A number of interventions notably through People and Skills and Multiply interventions may require additional staffing resources to manage and delivery project activity. 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
Page 11
GCR as Lead local authority will receive a grant determination letter and Memorandum of Understanding from the UK Government setting out Fund requirements and obligations. This will require to be reviewed by Legal and Democratic Solutions. It is anticipated that an agreement will be put in place between GCR and the 8 local authorities following an approach similar to that of City Deal governance through the current assurance frameworks. Any external projects funded in North Lanarkshire will also require appropriate partnership, grant or legal agreements to be put in place. It should be noted that previous experience through the Community Renewal Fund also suggests that any formal legal agreements received from the UK government may be based on English as opposed to Scots Law. There may be legal impacts including subsidy control which will require to be considered depending on interventions selected. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? There are interventions within the UKSPF which relate to both connectivity and digital skills, giving opportunities for funding for funding of community digital infrastructure and digital skills (people and business) in line with the emerging North Lanarkshire digital skills plan, and links to the work of the connectivity services framework. In addition, case management, monitoring and reporting systems may require to be reviewed or developed. Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
Page 12
There are opportunities for interventions to be supported through the UKSPF in this area both under Communities and Place and under Supporting Local Businesses. 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Communication and engagement are a critical element of the UKSPF. Local authorities are required to engage with local partners, stakeholders, national agencies Scottish Government, UK Government, MSPs and MPs. Any activity delivered will require to follow UK SPF branding and publicity guidelines. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? A full risk assessment will be undertaken. The GCR level investment plan will incorporate detail of risks and issues including contingency measures which will be in place to mitigate them. Any key fraud risks will also be fully detailed in the GCR level investment plan. The following have been highlighted as key local risks at this early stage: - Late approval of the GCR Investment Plan resulting in year 1 underspend or delays in implementation. This includes potential risk for any projects which commence prior to approval. - The inability to carry forward underspends or ringfence local underspends for North Lanarkshire. This requires further agreement on treatment of underspends by GCR. - The impact of future council savings on any match funding, staffing and project delivery. - The inability to recruit or retain key project delivery staff. - The inability to deliver against proposed outputs and outcomes. - Failure of delivery by any grant funded, partnership, challenge fund or procured services. - Cessation of UKSPF funding at 31 March 2025. - Delays in delivery of capital expenditure due to contractor or supply chain issues. To mitigate against these risks, a robust agreement will be required at GCR level for the delivery of the GCR investment plan. At a local level, robust governance, project/contract/grant management systems and monitoring and evaluation frameworks will require to be put in place to mitigate against the risks.
Page 13
Appendix 1: Proposed North Lanarkshire Investment Plan Activities Table 1: Communities and Place - £3,121,427 Intervention Summary of Proposed Activity Total UKSPF Allocation Currently EU Funded S2 Strathclyde Park Green Growth Accelerator match funding to support 'net zero' redevelopment of the watersports centre £400,000 No S5 Funding to support cycle facilities at Bellshill Gateway and a Challenge fund to enhance sports, arts, cultural, heritage and creative activities, projects and facilities £642,500 No S6 Funding to support the Ravenscraig Active Travel project and a Challenge fund to support Active Travel projects £550,000 No S7 Support for local tourism marketing to increase visitors and support employment in the sector £120,000 No S8 Support for volunteering initiatives to help expand volunteering opportunities across North Lanarkshire £220,000 No S9 Support for community empowerment and capacity building and delivery of the 9 Local Outcome Improvement Plans £750,000 No S10 Support to enhance advice and assistance for those facing fuel poverty £150,000 No S11 Support for feasibility studies for active travel or other activities that could be funded under the Communities and Place interventions £75,000 No S12 Challenge fund to support community organisations improve their digital connectivity £213,927 No TOTAL £3,121,427 Table 2: Supporting Local Business - £2,505,362 Intervention Summary of Proposed Activity Total UKSPF Allocation Currently EU Funded S14 Challenge Fund to support the development of tourism facilities £150,000 No S15 Grant funding and support for businesses to help increase start-ups, growth, investment and employment opportunities, including support to introduce new digital technology and advanced manufacturing technology £1,300,000 Yes S19 Targeted support to help increase business start-ups and encourage £295,362 No
Page 14
entrepreneurs in excluded/under- represented groups S20 Continuation of expert help framework to support SME business growth and bespoke support for businesses to transition to Net Zero and/or create green jobs £550,000 Yes S22 Funding to help support growth and capacity building of social enterprises across North Lanarkshire £210,000 No TOTAL £2,505,362 Table 3: People and Skills - £5,389,830 Intervention Summary of Proposed Activity Total UKSPF Allocation Currently EU Funded S31 and S35 Employability support, programmes and funding to support those furthest from the labour market £3,439,830 Yes S36 and S38 Support to develop skills academies to support North Lanarkshire residents seeking employment – focus will be on digital skills, construction and health and social care £1,050,000 No S29 Support to expand support programmes to help vulnerable young people achieve positive post-school destinations £900,000 No TOTAL £5,389,830 Table 4: Multiply - £2,299,585 Intervention Summary of Proposed Activity Total UKSPF Allocation Currently EU Funded S42 Integrated maths in the community programme to provide bespoke and tailored numeracy learning £1,920,327 No S49 Delivery of training to improve financial literacy for people with debt problems £379,258 No Total £2,299,585