Clive Betts, chair of the Commons communities and local government committee, has slammed the government’s response a report on the availability of European Union funds as ‘thoroughly inadequate’.
Last week, Betts’ committee warned that EU-backed regeneration projects could stall unless ministers took 'urgent steps' to provide them with match funding.However, the Department for Communities and Local Government rejected these concerns, saying local bodies had been made aware ‘of the availability of match funds’ for European Regional Development Fund projects.
The DCLG said: 'The government realises how important match funding is which is why, in December, [business minister] Mark Prisk and [local government minister] Baroness Hanham wrote to all the chairs and vice chairs of the local management committees which oversee ERDF funding locally to ensure they were aware of the availability of match funds from within government programmes.'
But Betts described this initial response as ‘disappointing’. He added: ‘Sending a letter about match funding to all the local management committees is a thoroughly inadequate response to the problems inhibiting take-up of ERDF funding.
The committee’s report was based on evidence gathered from over 40 organisations involved in ERDF in England as well as figures provided by DCLG. It included the figure that 93% of ERDF funding had been spent, contracted or applied for by January 2012, Betts said.
He went on: ‘The department cites this figure to justify its claim that all is well. That is however not the wholestory.
‘As our report also noted, only 63% of the programme had actually been spent or contracted by this point. This leaves 37% of funding still to be contracted on projects before the end of 2013, and spent before the end of 2015, where there is no guarantee that these projects will receive approval to proceed.’
