1. Debrief of ESF+ workshop on access to administrative registers and state of play of ESF+ proposal
Jeannette Monier and Louise Reid
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
‚Evaluation and Impact Assessment’ and ‚ESF and FEAD: Policy and Legislation’ Units
ESF Evaluation Partnership meeting, 18 February 2019, Brussels

2. Success factors
Availability of register and existence of legal basis to use them
Compatibility of the purpose of data collection of administrative registers with ESF purposes
Strong mandate for statistical offices
Single identification in the registers via e.g. the social security number as ID number.
Strategy to reduce burden (“data minimisation”)
Comparable: similar target group, similar objectives.

3. Main challenges
Legal basis is needed for any data collection and this requires time
Different purposes of the national register and ESF purposes
Problems with data quality: missing data and time lags

4. Main challenges
The administrative or registered based data do not always cover all indicators
Register data may need to be combined with other sources
Different levels of governance which makes the collection of data difficult
Complexity of GDPR application in national context
Participants’ consent or informing them might be required

5. State of play of the negotiations

6. ESF+

7. European Parliament
On 22/1 the EP plenary adopted the draft report on the ESF+ proposal
Key amendments:
an increase of €20 billion to the ESF+ budget
thematic concentration requirements:
Social inclusion from 25% to 27%;
ex-FEAD measures from 2% to 3%, additional to social inclusion;
youth measures (compulsory 3% for all MS; 15% for MS with high NEET rate);
2% earmarking for capacity building of social partners and civil society
Specific objectives are extended to certain target groups and specific actions but none were deleted or split
New Indicators – Annex I
- not in education or training (NEET)* - below 30years of age *
-children below 18 years of age * young people between years of age,
-participants from the Roma community**, - participants from rural areas*
-participants from geographical areas with high levels of poverty and social exclusion*
- participants transitioning from institutional to family and community based care**
New Annex IIa - Common indicators for ESF+ support for promoting social inclusion for the most deprived people
Merging these Union Instruments into one Fund will enhance the added value of EU funding in a range of activities in the policy fields relevant to investing in people and key for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights: notably employment, social inclusion and tackling poverty, education and training, as well as health investments.
Merging the funds allows a more clear link between the direct and indirect management strands and the ESF shared management strand of the ESF+.
On the one hand, the ESF+ can be used to upscale projects which are initially funded by the direct and indirect management strands.
On the other hand, the direct and indirect management strands may also be used to fund projects that complement action undertaken by Member States under the shared management strands.
For citizens, but also beneficiaries, this should facilitate the access to funding opportunities. For managing and implementing authorities there is a significant simplification and consolidation of rules regarding funding opportunities in these policy areas into a common single legal base.

8. Council - SMWP AT PRES – only Art 4 ESF+ Specific Objectives RO PRES
ESF+ Part II shared management
1st compromise text – discussed on 5/2
Deadline for drafting suggestions – 14/2
2nd compromise text – to be discussed on 28/2
ESF+ Parts 1 and 4 general and final provisons
1st compromise text – to be discussed on 28/2
Deadline for drafting suggestions – 6/3
2nd compromise text – to be discussed on 19/3
ESF+ Parts III EaSI & Health Strands
1st compromise text – discussed on 14/2
Deadline for drafting suggestions - 20/2
2nd compromise text – to be discussed on 12/3
AIM: Agreement at COREPER on 27 March

9. CPR

10. European Parliament
On 13/2 EP plenary adopted the report on the post 2020 CPR
Key amendments:
Increase the budget for cohesion policy up to €378 billion;
maintain the 7 year programming period (not 5 + 2);
the increase of co-financing and pre-financing rates;
maintain the n+3 rule;
enhanced focus on transparency for the monitoring committees;
enhanced focus on inclusion of partners as ref to in Art.6 CPR;
kept data transmission at 6 x per year
however the values of output and result indicators for selected operations and values achieved by operations should only be submitted 2x per year;
the Commission’s retroactive evaluation of each Fund should include an evaluation of the socio-economic impact and the funding needs under the policy objectives
Merging these Union Instruments into one Fund will enhance the added value of EU funding in a range of activities in the policy fields relevant to investing in people and key for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights: notably employment, social inclusion and tackling poverty, education and training, as well as health investments.
Merging the funds allows a more clear link between the direct and indirect management strands and the ESF shared management strand of the ESF+.
On the one hand, the ESF+ can be used to upscale projects which are initially funded by the direct and indirect management strands.
On the other hand, the direct and indirect management strands may also be used to fund projects that complement action undertaken by Member States under the shared management strands.
For citizens, but also beneficiaries, this should facilitate the access to funding opportunities. For managing and implementing authorities there is a significant simplification and consolidation of rules regarding funding opportunities in these policy areas into a common single legal base.

11. Council Aim: Blocks 3 and 4 to be agreed at COREPER on 27 March
TRILOGUES – 19 Feb + 6 March
Block 1 – Programming (policy objectives, horizontal principles)
Block 5 – Management and Control
COREPER – 15 Feb
Block 2 – mid term review, enabling conditions, ERDF and ESF+ Article 4
RO PRES
Block 3 - Monitoring, Evaluation and Communication
Block 4 - Forms of support including simplified costs options and eligibility rules /Financial Instruments
Block 6 - Financial management
Aim: Blocks 3 and 4 to be agreed at COREPER on 27 March
Merging these Union Instruments into one Fund will enhance the added value of EU funding in a range of activities in the policy fields relevant to investing in people and key for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights: notably employment, social inclusion and tackling poverty, education and training, as well as health investments.
Merging the funds allows a more clear link between the direct and indirect management strands and the ESF shared management strand of the ESF+.
On the one hand, the ESF+ can be used to upscale projects which are initially funded by the direct and indirect management strands.
On the other hand, the direct and indirect management strands may also be used to fund projects that complement action undertaken by Member States under the shared management strands.
For citizens, but also beneficiaries, this should facilitate the access to funding opportunities. For managing and implementing authorities there is a significant simplification and consolidation of rules regarding funding opportunities in these policy areas into a common single legal base.

12. Summary

13. THANK YOU