Open - Scottish Government

• up to 55% of the total allocation of ESF Priority 3 - Improving Access to Lifelong
Learning, will be allocated to UHI Millennium Institute, a total of€8.318 million.
Community Planninq Partnerships (CPPs)
The development of Community Planning Partnerships is a clear priority of the Scottish
Government. Structural Funds will be made available to support CPPs in the Highlands and
Islands by contributing to integrated social inclusion Iregeneration action plans across the
Programme area, coordinated by Local Authorities.
ESF support for CPPs will come largely from Priority 1 - Increasing the Workforce. Funds
will support projects set out in Plans and will complement the key role of CPPs in delivering
projects supported by a range of other funding bodies.
Local Authorities will be responsible for the submission of Plans, which will then be assessed
by Advisory Groups for eligibility, affordability and impact. Thereafter individual organisations
will be responsible for bringing forward components of the Plan as and when ready.
Between €12 million - €14 million from both funds will be available to support the
development of CPP activity. It is anticipated that complementarity will be achieved through
integration of funding from LEADER and elements of SRDP and the Fisheries fund.
Taroetinq
Targeting and the focussing of investment is fundamental to the successful implementation
of the Programme and to achieving the Lisbon targets. The focus for investment in Priority 1
include the following groups:
• long term unemployedlinactive people, particularly those with no or low
qualifications and multiple barriers to entering employment or self-employment,
and remaining in a job;
• 16-19 year olds not in employment, education or training;
• unemployed/inactive lone parents and other carers;
• older people seeking to re-enter the labour force or requiring re-skilling to allow them
to remain in the workforce; and
• unemployed/inactive people from ethnic minority groups.
In addition, whilst geographical targeting, successfully implemented in previous
programmes, will be applied horizontally across all Priorities, it will be applied particularly in
relation to Priority 1. Whilst the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation remains insufficiently
sensitive to adequately identifying rural disadvantage, a more meaningful measure within
the region is the "fragile area" classification applied by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
This measure recognises structural problems resulting from a self-reinforcing combination of
remoteness, poor infrastructure and low or low earning levels of economic activity.
Targeting will focus on applicants resident in areas which satisfy at least one of the three
sets of criteria which determine fragility - geographic, demographic and economic. A list of
"areas of need" will be produced in due course and future reports will detail how resources
have been allocated in support of these.
Under Priority 2 targeting will focus on particular groups including:
• Employees who lack basic core skills, including those with low levels of literacy
or numeracy and for whom English is not their first language;
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