All RDAs across England are closing by March 2012 (see transition and closure section). With our resources reducing steadily, this page has not been recently updated and the information below may not be current. If in doubt, please contact us directly.

Key Competitiveness Programme documents

Latest News

From 01 July 2011, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes in the South West will be directly managed by Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Further information is available on our funding pages


Competitiveness Operational Programme

The Competitiveness Operational Programme (OP) sets out the strategy and aims for the programme.

Four Priority Axes guide the direction of the programme:

  • Priority Axis 1 - Innovation and Knowledge
  • Priority Axis 2 - Enterprise and Growth
  • Priority Axis 3 - Urban Enterprise
  • Priority Axis 4 - Technical Assistance

The OP document provides detailed information about the aims of each of these priorities, and outlines the types of activity which could be supported.

Equality and Diversity

During development of the Operational Programme an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) was carried out to assess potential equality impacts across the overall Programme. Individual investments are also required to carry out a Screening Stage Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) specific to their proposed activity, prior to approval, to show how they will positively promote equality and ensure the widest possible access to these opportunities. All the relevant documents are available below (please note that due to large file size, some of these documents are best downloaded over a broadband connection):

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Publicity Regulations

All investments receiving ERDF support have an obligation to fulfil a number of requirements in relation to publicising the European Union’s contribution to their activities. This is an important part of the ERDF contract, and will be monitored during the lifetime of the project.

Guidance has been produced to help organisations meet these regulations.

Annual implementation reports

Regulations set down by the European Commission (EC) governing the management of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes require the South West RDA to produce a yearly progress report known as an Annual Implementation Report.
Each report covers a calendar year, and includes progress made during that period in areas such as:

  • Financial progress
  • Communications
  • Achievements
  • Monitoring and any Programme-related issues arising during the year.

The Programme Monitoring Committee agrees the content of the report and it is then submitted to the EC by 30 June of the following year. Reports are scrutinised to ensure the programme is being effectively managed. Once each report has been accepted by the EC, it will be published below.

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