Operational Programme
This page provides information on the European Social Fund Operational Programme for England and Gibraltar for 2007-2013. The Operational Programme sets out the labour market issues that ESF will address, and the employment and skills activities that it will support.
The Department for Work and Pensions carried out a public consultation exercise on the draft programme from 30 October 2006 to 22 January 2007. It then submitted a programme proposal to the European Commission on 5 March 2007. Following negotiations, the programme was agreed with the Commission on 9 August 2007.
The Commission has issued a press release (38.2KB) 
confirming the adoption of the programme.
The Operational Programme was amended in 2011 to vire €31.7 million from Priority 3 (Technical Assistance) to Priority 1 (Extending Employment Opportunities) and €11.7 million from Priority 3 to Priority 2 (Developing a Skilled and Adaptable Workforce). At the same time, the Operational Programme was also amended to take account of the closure of the regional Government Office network and ESF committees in most regions. The Programme Monitoring Committee was consulted on and agreed the amendments. The European Commission adopted the amended Operational Programme on 12 December 2011.
The amended 0perational Programme is contained in the following PDF documents:
- Contents (39KB)
- Executive summary (25KB)
- Abbreviations and acronyms (37KB)
- Introduction (245KB)
- Chapter 1 - Analysis (5,983KB) - Chapter 1 analyses the strengths and weaknesses of England's labour market and identifies the challenges it will address. It contains a separate section on Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
- Chapter 2 - Strategy (261KB) - Chapter 2 sets out how the programme will address relevant EU, national and regional employment and skills strategies.
- Chapter 3 - Priorities (157KB) - Chapter 3 describes the programme's priorities to tackle worklessness and low skills, including the proposed activities and indicators.
- Chapter 4 - Implementation (149KB) - Chapter 4 describes how the programme will be implemented, including the cross-cutting themes of gender equality and equal opportunities, and sustainable development.
- Chapter 5 - Financial Tables (68KB) - Chapter 5 contains the financial tables setting out the breakdown of funds by year and by priority.
- Chapter 6 - Gibraltar (85KB) - Chapter 6 contains information specific to Gibraltar.
- Annex A - Target and Indicators (150KB) - Annex A contains the targets and indicators that will be used to measure the performance of the programme.
- Annex B - Information on categorisation of ESF (32KB)
- Annex C Summary of consultation (70KB) - Annex C contains a summary of the consultation exercise on the draft programme.