MPs announce inquiry on the European Regional Development fund (ERDF)

• Communities and Local Government Committee
• Inquiry page: European Regional Development fund

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) manages the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in England. This fund is focused on reducing economic disparities within and between EU member states by supporting economic regeneration and safeguarding jobs. According to DCLG since 2000, England has benefited from more than €5 billion of funding, with a further €3.2 billion being invested between 2007 and 2013 in local projects around the country. The Committee invites submissions from interested parties on the operation of the ERDF in England. To assist those submitting memoranda the Committee suggests they may cover the following areas.

• How, and on what, is ERDF spent?
• Is the taxpayer in England obtaining value for money from the ERDF?
• Could the funds contributed to, and paid out on, regeneration through ERDF be spent more effectively by repatriating ERDF to the Government in London?
• With the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies responsibility for ERDF in England passes to DCLG. What effects are these changes having on the administration, assessment and payment of ERDF?

Memoranda addressing any or all of these issues, in accordance with the guidelines set out below, are invited by 4pm on Thursday, 12 April 2012.

Each submission should:

• be no more than 4,000 words in length;
• begin with a short summary in bullet point form;
• be in Word format with as little use of colour or logos as possible; and
• be accompanied by a covering letter or email containing the name and contact details of the individual or organisation submitting evidence.

A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to clgev@parliament.uk and marked "ERDF".

It is helpful, for Data Protection purposes, for contact details not to be included in the text of submissions, but sent separately in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

View guidance on giving evidence to Select Committees.

Please also note that:

• Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a proposed memorandum, in which case a hard copy of the published work may be included.
• Memoranda submitted should be kept confidential until formally accepted by the Committee. The Committee has authorised the publication by witnesses of their evidence, but such publication should await the formal acknowledgement of acceptance of the submission as evidence to the Committee.
• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or making it available through the Parliamentary Record Office. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.