COMMITTEE: ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CORPORATE SERVICES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

DATE: 21 APRIL 2016

TITLE OF REPORT: European Union Grant Funding

Report of: The Chief Executive

Cabinet Member: Cllr Grant Davey

Purpose of report

To provide an overview of the grants available from the European Union to both Northumberland County Council and other Northumberland based organisations. To explain the governance arrangements for the funds and the support provided by the Council to access the funds. To advise on the amounts of European funding previously secured by the Council, and the opportunities to access grants in the future.

E

Recommendations: The report is for information only, the Committee is asked to note its contents.

Link to Corporate Plan

This report is relevant to the Economic Growth priority included in the NCC Corporate Plan 2013-2017

1. Key issues

1.1 European funding plays an important role in supporting economic growth in the United Kingdom, and with decreasing amounts of national funding their importance is increasing.

1.2 The 2007-13 Programme in the North East was worth £375m European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant and delivered 168 projects. Over 50% was delivered as regional business support projects, which Northumberland based businesses benefited. The largest of these is the £142m North East Access to Finance Jeremie 1 fund which received £68m ERDF and £60m investment from the European Investment Bank. Funds recycled from Jeremie 1 are to be used in the 2014-20 Jeremie 2, a £160m fund of which £60m is to come from ERDF.

1.3 2007-13 European Social Fund was delivered as national programmes with local sub- contracting arrangements. The value of delivery in the North East is estimated to be £195m.

1.4 In 2007-13 the County Council and other Northumberland based organisations directly secured £35m ERDF towards total investment of £73m.

1.5 The Council has 2.2fte staff who provide support both internally and to external organisations to access European funding. The posts are 50% funded by grant, the regulations for which restrict the support ERDF and European Social Fund (ESF) funds. Limited support is available in respect of other EU funds.

1.6 The 2014-20 European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF) Programme is worth £436m to the North East of which £226m is ERDF, £200m ESF and £10m is European Agricultural Farming & Rural Development funding (EAFRD) This funding is referred to as Growth Programme and is to be used to deliver the North East European Structural Investment Funds Strategy.

1.7 The Governance arrangements for the 2014-20 ESIF programme are significantly different to the 2007-13 programme. There programme is managed and governed at a national level with a single governing body empowered to make all strategic decisions on the programme. The role of the local Sub Committee is only advisory; however there are proposals within the Devolution deal for this to be strengthened.

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1.8 The 2014-20 ESIF programme opened in March 2015 and so far the Council and other Northumberland based organisations have secured £10m in grant. There are further opportunities to access further grant especially in the areas of Low Carbon and Climate Change adaptation.

1.9 The Council is supporting Community Led Local Development (CLLD) in Northumberland. This is a bottom up approach to delivering local programmes with European funding for which c£9m is available for Northumberland. 3 LEADER (Rural) programmes are approved, with a total of £5.86k grant secured. Bids have been submitted for a CLLD programme in the South East which will secure c£2m and a Fisheries CLLD programme which if successful will secure £800k.

1.10 The vast majority of European funding sits outside the Structural Funds described above, and is managed and accessed at a national or European level. The 2014-20 national EAFRD (Rural) programme is worth £3.92bn, and the Basic Farm Payments scheme which is part of the Common Agricultural Policy and paid directly paid to farmers is worth c£1bn per year, based on 2013/14 figures £60m of this is paid to Northumberland farmers In additional the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) is worth £190m to the UK. The European level schemes are very diverse in nature and worth hundreds of billions. The largest of which is Horizon 2020 which provides funding for research and innovation. At present the Council does not have much involvement in the European level programmes.

2. Background

2.1 European grant funding plays an important role in supporting economic growth within the UK and Northumberland. The Council has and continues to play a proactive role in the delivery of EU funded projects and programmes and also in supporting organisations outside the authority to access these funds.

2.2 EU funding runs in 7 year programmes, the current one operating from 2014-20 and the previous programme from 2007 – 13. There are in excess of 100 different EU grant funds available, the vast majority of which are not accessed by the Council or organisations in Northumberland. European funding can be complex to understand, secure and manage and failure to adhere to the many regulations can result in clawback of funds. However due to decreasing national resources it is becoming an ever increasing important source of funding to deliver economic growth.

2.3 Technical Assistance – support to access funds

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2.3.1 The Council has 2.2fte staff who sit within the Corporate Programmes and External Funding Team within Corporate Resources. Their role is to advise and support applicants from both within and outside of the Council to access and manage EU funding opportunities (ERDF and ESF). This support is referred to as Technical Assistance (TA) and is 50% funded from EU funds with the Council contributing the match funding of c£68k per year. The Northumberland TA support forms part of the £3m newly established North East Combined Authority TA project which brings all TA support together in a co-ordinated manner. Northumberland County Council is managing the project behalf of NECA.

2.3.2 Due to funding regulations and capacity the TA support is limited to providing advice on only 2 European grant funds; these are European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF). As TA is not available for other European funds, such as rural and fisheries funding, advice and support on these is currently provided by the External Funding team on a limited basis.

2.4 European Funding Grants

European Structural & Investment Funding (ESIF)

2.4.1 Structural funds are intended to stimulate economic growth across all member states by correcting imbalances in prosperity both between individual states and between regions within states.

2.4.2 There are 4 Structural Funds available within the UK; these are European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); European Social Fund (ESF) and European Agricultural Funds for Rural Development (EAFRD) and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

2.5 2007-13 Programme

2.5.1 The 2007-13 programme was worth £375m ERDF to the North East. ESF was managed at a national level with delivery taking place locally; the value of this to the North East is estimated as £195m.

2.5.2 168 ERDF projects were delivered in the programme, some of them specific to an area such as Blyth Workspace, but many projects supporting business growth were delivered to all businesses across the North East. The largest of these was the £142m North East Access to Finance Jeremie 1 project which provided loan and equity investments to businesses. £68m of ERDF investment attracted an additional £60m investment from the European Investment Bank and £14m private sector investment which provided growth finance to businesses. The returns from the loans and equity are being recycled into JEREMIE 2 which will operate from 2016-20 as a £160m fund, £60m of which will come from ERDF.

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2.5.3 During the 2007-13 programme, the Council including its development company ARCH, delivered 9 projects with a value of £28m which secured £13m ERDF. The projects include the development of Blyth Workspace a flagship office development on Blyth Quayside. Funding to provide business support include specialised digital growth support and funding towards the delivery of superfast broadband infrastructure to businesses.

2.5.4 In addition to the above, a further 8 projects were delivered by organisations in Northumberland. They received £22m ERDF towards total project costs of £45m. These projects include the marine testing facility at NaRec located on Blyth quayside, and business support programmes delivered across the North East by Northumberland Business Services Ltd based in Ashington.

2.6 2014-20 ESIF Programme in the North East

2.6.1 Within the 2014-20 programme each Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area has been awarded a notional allocation of ESIF Funds for the delivery of the area European Structural and Investment Fund Strategy. These funds are referred to as Growth Programme funds. In the North East the strategy has been developed by NELEP working closely with key partners including Local Authorities. It sets out the priorities for the use of ESIF funds up to 2020 and forms a part of the wider North East Strategic Economic Plan.

2.6.2 The actual programme value is €550m which is the largest allocation outside of London. This is revalued every 6 months to account for euro/sterling exchange rate fluctuations. The latest revaluation took place in January 2016, and resulted in a sterling valuation of £436m. The balance of the 3 funds within this are: £200m ESF, £226m ERDF and £10m EAFRD. The ERDF and ESF funds opened for applications in March 2015, the EAFRD programme is not expected to open until summer 2016.

2.6.3 Within the North East the ERDF and ESF funding is apportioned between 2 categories of region which are determined by deprivation statistics. The categories of region determine the maximum Intervention Rate (IR) for the funding, i.e. the percentage of grant that can be paid, and transitional areas have a ring fenced allocation.

2.6.4 More Developed Region – Tyne and Wear and Northumberland

Maximum intervention rate is 50%

Latest Allocations ERDF - £153m ESF – £145m

Transitional Region – Durham

Maximum intervention rate is 60%

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Current Allocations – ERDF £73m ESF £55m

EAFRD funds can only be used in rural areas which cover most of Northumberland, Durham and the rural part of Gateshead. The intervention rates are determined by activity and applicant and range from 40-100%.

2.7 How the funds can be used

2.7.1 European Regional Development Fund - £226m

ERDF can fund both capital and revenue activity and supports larger projects with a minimum value of £1m. All ERDF projects must directly or indirectly support small and medium size business (SME’s under 250 employees) to grow.

There are 5 ERDF national priority themes included within the North East ESIF Strategy, which are:

PA1 - Innovation - supporting businesses to bring new products to market; supporting research between businesses and Universities and providing incubation and test facilities.

PA3 – SME Competitiveness – providing access to finance to enable SME’s to grow; provision of business support; development of strategic sites and accommodation for businesses.

PA4 – Low Carbon – support to grow the low carbon sector including the supply chain; support to businesses to use low carbon and renewable energy; support innovative approaches to improve energy efficiency in public and community sector buildings;

PA5 – Climate Change Adaptation – support to businesses to improve energy efficiency & resilience; support for use of blue and green infrastructure (alternative water management systems) to support business resilience to flooding.

2.7.2 European Social Fund (ESF) - £200m

ESF funding can support revenue activities with a minimum project value of £100k. It supports people back into employment through the provision of training, employment support and capacity building.

Priorities for ESF Funding are:

PA1.1 – Access to Employment – supporting people including those with mental health issues to get back to work; provision of information, advice and guidance service for school leavers.

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PA1.2 & 1.3 – Support for young people (15-24yrs) who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) & support for a Youth Employment Initiative in Durham to support people aged 15-29 to access employment.

PA1.4 - Inclusion – support to address multiple barriers to employment for those furthest from the labour market. Building capacity in the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and within social enterprises to address multiple barriers to employment; support for those with protected characteristics by addressing long-term imbalances in key sectors and support for vulnerable groups and deprived areas to address imbalances.

Much of the activity in the 2014-20 programmes is to be delivered via Opt-Ins which are arrangements with Government agencies and departments to deliver locally determined priorities using their established mechanisms. Within the North East Opt-Ins are being delivered by Skills Funding Agency, Department of Work and Pensions and the Big Lottery.

The Council in its lead role on behalf of NECA for Employability and Inclusion has played a major role in co-ordinating the determination of local priorities.

2.8 PA1.4 Community Led Local Development (CLLD) - this is a mechanism to support integrated local development using a bottom up approach within deprived areas. For CLLD these are defined as areas with or adjacent to areas with the highest 20% levels of deprivation. A Local Action Group (LAG) is at the heart of CLLD programmes. They agree a local development strategy (LDS) which sets out the issues the CLLD area has, and the interventions needed to overcome these. The types of activities which CLLD can support are supporting people back to work; supporting local businesses to grow and strengthen local supply chains which provide employment to their local communities; providing enterprise and pre-start support to people considering starting businesses in the local area; providing community hubs and local accommodation for businesses. CLLD must not duplicate the activities being delivered from the main ERDF and ESF programmes.

2.8.1 The LAG is responsible for making decisions about which projects should be supported. It is supported by an Accountable Body (usually a Local Authority) who is legally responsible for the CLLD programme.

2.8.2 Within the NE ESIF programme, CLLD is being funded with £4.6m ERDF and £8.8m ESF and is expected to fund up to 7 programmes. The Council has been successful if securing funding to develop a Local Development Strategy and to form a LAG to cover part of the South East of the county. The selection process will be concluded by September 2016 by which time the Council will know if it has been successful if securing c£2m to deliver a CLLD programme.

2.9 European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) - £10m

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EAFRD supports economic growth in rural areas. The priority activities included within the NE ESIF strategy have been developed to align with the priorities of the other complimentary rural grant funds which are the Rural Growth Network programme and the LEADER programmes. The EAFRD programme in the North East is not expected to be open until summer 2016. The priorities in the North East are:

Capital grants for micro and small businesses (up to 50 employees) to enable them to create jobs especially within the manufacturing, engineering, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, tourism accommodation and creative industries.

Support for superfast broadband Infrastructure which are outside of current rollout plans. This activity is likely to be limited to Northumberland.

Support for visitor destinations and tourism infrastructure which attract higher spending and longer staying visitors from outside of the North East.

Support for the development of destination management plans and initiatives to support businesses to develop networks and supply chains.

2.10 ESIF Governance

2.10.1 The Government has changed the Governance model for the 2014-20 programme. The 2007-13 programme had 9 local programmes based on the former Regional Development Agency areas. These were established and recognised by the European Commission as separate, independent programmes with their Local Management Committee who were empowered to make all decisions on the programme.

2.10.2 The 2014-20 arrangements have 1 national programme for each fund i.e. ERDF, ESF and EAFRD. These incorporate the 39 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) ESIF Strategies, but the EC only recognises the single national programme. There is one National Programme Monitoring Committee who makes the strategic decisions on the programmes, and this is the only governance body which is formally recognised by the EC.

2.10.3 Each LEP area has an ESIF Local Sub Committee (ESIF LSC) which is made up of public, private and VCS representatives from organisations including Local Authorities, the LEP, Further and Higher education, Business Sector, VCS and rural interests. The LSC does not have decision making powers and is there to provide advice to the managing authorities on the content of the calls for projects and the strategic fit of applications with the Local Development Strategy. Heather Smith represents Northumberland County Council on the LSC.

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2.10.4 The Devolution deal includes provision for the Combined Authority via its Leadership Board to have Intermediary Body Status. If agreed this will enable the Leadership Board having taken advice from the ESIF LSC to make the decision on strategic fit of proposals and to agree the content and timing of calls.

2.11 Funding Secured in Northumberland so far from 2014-20 Programme

2.11.1 The 2007-14 ERDF and ESF Programmes opened for applications in March 2015. The Council, Arch and other Northumberland based organisations have already secured £10.8m grant towards project costs of £16.3m. Details of the projects are:

2.11.2 Mental Health Trailblazer - £1.14m ESF Total Project Costs £2.17m

On behalf of NECA, Northumberland County Council is delivering a pilot programme to assist people with mental health problems back into employment. Project duration April 2016 to March 2018

2.11.3 NECA Technical Assistance - £826k ERDF £730k ESF Total Project Costs £3m

On behalf of NECA, Northumberland County Council is managing the ERDF and ESF Technical Assistance project. Project duration October 15 to September 2018.

2.11.4 ERDF & ESF CLLD Preparatory Phase - £6k ERDF £15k ESF Total Project Cost £40k

Funding for the Council to prepare a Local Development Strategy for a CLLD programme to cover the parts of the South East with the highest levels of deprivation. If approved an allocation of up to £2m grant will be available to deliver a programme. Project duration for preparatory phase March - August 2016

2.11.5 ESF BIG Lottery Opt-In Development Phase - £50k Delivery - £3.41m

Funding to develop and deliver the BIG Lottery Building Better Opportunities Programme which will build capacity within the VCS to support people into employment.

2.11.6 Business Northumberland 16-19 £699k ERDF Total Costs £1.4m (approval anticipated April 16)

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Arch is delivering a programme to provide support and specialist digital advice to Northumberland businesses. Project duration June 16 – March 19

2.11.7 North East Business Support Fund - £3.9m ERDF Total Costs £7.63m

Northumberland Business Services Ltd are delivering a business advice and small grant programme to 1420 SME’s across the North East LEP area. Project duration August 2015 – March 2018

2.12 Further Opportunities from the 2014-20 Programme

2.12.1 ERDF – in previous programmes the Council has benefited from funds under the SME support theme to either build business accommodation, open up industrial sites or to provide support to SME’s. Although the programme has only been open for 12 months and still has 4 years to commit funds, this area of the programme is nearly fully committed. This is due to the smaller allocation and a commitment to provide £60m to the North East Jeremie 2 fund which provides loans to businesses. There are therefore very limited opportunities for SME support type activities.

2.12.2 For the first time project supporting the Low Carbon and Climate Change agenda are eligible for support. Further guidance is awaited on eligibility but it is understood that innovate renewable energy initiatives both for businesses, housing and public buildings are eligible. In addition support and assistance to businesses to reduce their energy consumption can also be supported. Internal discussions are being held to explore opportunities to secure grant within these areas.

2.12.3 ESF – a large proportion of the programme is being delivered by the National Opt-Ins up to 2018. However following that proposals are included within the Devolution Deal to allow the Combined Authority to commission employability, inclusion and skills activity. Once further details of the ESF open calls are available, there could be opportunities for Northumberland College to secure funds for skills provision. In addition there may be further opportunities for the BIG Lottery Opt-In and CLLD but these will be post 2018.

2.12.4 EAFRD – these funds are expected to be released in Summer 2016. They will provide opportunities for the development of tourism facilities and business growth. The funds are not open to public sector organisations, Active Northumberland and Visit Northumberland are involved in discussions to identify projects which could benefit from the funds.

2.13 European Structural Investment Funds delivered nationally and not included within the LEP Growth Programmes

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2.13.1 European Agricultural Fund Rural Development (EAFRD)

The total 2014-20 EAFRD budget for all EU member states is €50bn, of this the UK receives €5.2bn c£4.1bn. With the exception of the £177m which is included within the ESIF Growth Programmes and the £138m for LEADER, the remaining 76% is being delivered as national programmes. Farmers, woodland owners and forestry contractors can bid for funds. These programmes exclude the Basic Farm Payments scheme which is paid to farmer as part of the Common Agricultural policy. The main 2014-20 EAFRD programmes for England are:

2.13.2 Countryside Stewardship Scheme £3.1bn This provides financial incentives for land owners to look after the environment through initiatives such as conservation and restoration of wildlife habitats, flood risk management, reducing pollution from agriculture, encouraging educational access, preserving features important to the history of the rural landscape.

2.13.3 Countryside Productivity Scheme £141m. This provides grants to farmers, woodland owners and forestry contractors to grow the business and create jobs. The scheme supports investment in animal productivity health and welfare, arable and horticultural productivity, forestry productivity and resource management.

2.14 LEADER

EAFRD supports Community Led Local Development (CLLD) through the LEADER programme. This is an integrated approach to rural development for which the LEADER Local Action Group (LAG) is at the centre. Throughout England there are 80 LAG’s utilising £138m.

2.14.1 LEADER within Northumberland

Within Northumberland there are 3 LAG’s with a combined allocation of £5.86m. Each LAG must have a minimum of 51% of its members from the private and VCS sector, and have a balance of sectoral interests. The County Council is represented by an elected member on each LAG. Northumberland County Council acts as the Accountable Body for Northumberland Uplands LAG and Coast & Lowlands LAG and Durham County Council for North Pennine Dales LAG. Accountable bodies are legally and financially responsible for the compliance and delivery of the programmes which currently have a delivery period from October 2015 – March 2019.

Northumberland Uplands (NULAG) €2.351m (c£1.84m), Cllr Dougie Watkin

Northumberland Coast and Lowlands (C&L LAG) €2.481m (c1.94m), Cllr Milburn Douglas

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North Pennine Dales (NPD LAG).€2.667m (c£2.08m) Cllr Anne Dale

2.14.2 The emphasis for LEADER has changed in the 2014-20 programme. Previously LEADER was able to support projects bringing social and community benefits. There is now a much stronger emphasis on economic growth, with the requirement that 70% of funds must be used to support projects which directly create jobs and the remaining 30% to indirectly create jobs. All 3 LAG’s have the following 6 priorities within their Local development Strategies:

Support for micro & small enterprises and farm diversification

Support for Rural Tourism

Increasing Farm productivity

Increasing forestry productivity

Provision of local services

Support for culture and heritage activities

2.15 Basic Farm Payments Scheme

2.15.1 This scheme does not form part of the European Structural funds but has one of the largest annual allocations of European funding in the UK. The scheme is the means by which European funding under the Common Agricultural policy is distributed to UK farmers. It acts as a safety net for farmers and crofters by supplementing their main business income. To qualify applicants must actively farm land with a minimum size of 5ha.The scheme delivers environmental and other benefits by requiring applicants to meet certain practices and farm in a sustainable way. To encourage young people to remain in or enter farming it offers top-up payments for young farmers.

2.15.2 The 2015 scheme was worth £1.43bn to the UK. Taking a baseline of actual payments made to Northumberland farmers from October 13 to October 14 (which is the latest actual data available) it is estimated that c£60m was paid to Northumberland farmers in 2015. It therefore plays a significant role in the Northumberland rural economy which has 5000 people employed in agriculture, and the agriculture, fishing and forestry sector contributed £171m (4%) GVA to the Counties economy in 2014.

2.16 European Maritime & Fisheries Fund (EMFF)

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2.16.1 EMFF is one of the 4 structural funds but is not included within the LEP ESIF Growth Programmes. It is managed by the Marine Management Organisation and supports the fisheries, inland waters, aquaculture and maritime sectors. The 2014-20 UK programme is worth £190m of which £92m comes to England. The fund is open to a variety of both public and private organisations and individuals engaged in and supporting the fishing, aquaculture and maritime sectors. The priorities for the fund are:

Assisting the fisheries sector with the implementation of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, including the landing Obligation

Improving health and safety on board vessels

Investments in fishing ports, landing sites, auction halls and shelters

Processing and adding value to fishery and aquaculture products

Investments in aquaculture

Establishment of Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGS)

Fisheries Local Actions Groups – FLAGS

2.16.2 Fisheries Local Actions Groups – FLAGS

The MMO has allocated £4.8m for the delivery of CLLD through the establishment of FLAGS. A FLAG is a Local Action Group similar to a LEADER LAG but focused on the fishing and aquaculture sector. The North East has not previously had a FLAG, of which there are currently 6 within England. Working in partnership with Northumberland Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority and North Tyneside Council, The County Council acting as Lead Partner has submitted a bid to the MMO to establish the North of Tyne FLAG which will cover all 14 fishing ports and harbours from Berwick to North Shields.

2.16.3 A decision is expected by mid-April if the bid has been successful to be one of the 6 England FLAGS for the 2014-20 programme. Funding will be made available to produce a Local Development Strategy and form a FLAG which will need to be operational by October 2016. £800,000 of EMFF funds is available to each FLAG over a 3 year period towards the delivery of the LDS.

2.17 Programmes delivered directly by the European Commission

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2.17.1 There are in excess of 100 other grant programmes which are which are administered at a European Community level. It is often a requirement of these funds that applicants form partnerships with organisations in other EU states to deliver projects and programmes across borders; these are often referred to as co-operation projects

2.17.2 Many of these are very specialist in nature such as Ariadna which supports links between academic institutes in advanced space technology research. However others such as Erasmus+ encourage collaboration for youth training, education and sports.

2.17.3 The Council has had limited involvement in co-operation projects which require a high level of resource to deliver and manage and require travel to the other participating member states. The Fire and Rescue service have participated in 2 fire safety programmes, and the Economic Inclusion team participated in a Micropol project with Denmark as the lead partner looking at Smart-work facilities

2.17.4 The Council does not provide direct support to enable organisations to bid for Europe wide programmes but does include details within the regular funding bulletins it produces. The main EU programmes which may be benefit to organisations in North East include:

Horizon 2020 research and Innovation programme; E Horizon 2020 – An €80bn EU wide Research and Innovation programme with 19 different strands. It supports higher education institutes and businesses to take their innovative ideas from the lab to the market.

InterReg transnational Cooperation Programmes - A €10.1bn programme to support co-operation to address issues such as eco-innovation, climate change and environmental protection.

ELENA – European Local Energy Assistance – a €1.6bn programme operated through the European Investment Bank to support Council’s to prepare and implement sustainable energy plans for their area. Newcastle City Council has led an ELENA programme on behalf of the North East.

Erasmus+ Education, training youth and sports programmes – a €14.7bn programme for education, training, youth and sport. Europe Direct North East which is based within Durham County Council provides support to schools with an interest in participating.

Implications

Policy None

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Finance and value for money

Any European funding secured would have a financial impact

Legal All European grant funding involves entering into a legal grant agreement

Procurement European public procurement regulations are to be followed for European funds

Human Resources

European funded projects may require the employment of staff

Property Not applicable

Equalities

(Impact Assessment attached)

Yes No N/A x

Risk Assessment

Not required – report for information only

Crime & Disorder

Not applicable

Customer Consideration

Not applicable

Carbon reduction

Not applicable

Wards Funding could have the potential to benefit all wards

Background papers:

Report sign off.

Authors must ensure that officers and members have agreed the content of the report:

InitialsFinance Officer ASMonitoring Officer/Legal n/aHuman Resources n/aProcurement n/a

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I.T. n/aExecutive Director SMPortfolio Holder(s) JGD

Author and Contact Details

Heather Smith – Corporate Programmes & External Funding ManagerHeather.Smith@northumberland.gov.uk 01670 623883

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