A Devon County Council website cites two recent avenues for funding:
“Learning and Skills: Developing Higher Level Skills (European Social Fund)
Posted on 11 May 2016
A total of £2.8m ESF funding is available in the Heart of the South West LEP area to develop and deliver a range of activities to support those least likely to enter higher education. There is also an expectation that … Continue reading →
Skill for Growth: supporting SME Development (European Social Fund)
Posted on 11 May 2016
ESF funding is available for projects in the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area for projects which support high-level skills and higher-value employment in the Smart Specialisation areas of economic activity through improving the labour market … Continue reading →
Now, doesn’t that rather give you the impression that our LEP has at least £2.8m – and maybe more at its disposal, thanks to the EU, to dispense in Devon and Somerset and that you should negotiate with them for a share of it?
Unfortunately, not.
Reading on you see that, yes, these funds are available from the European Union – but you can go direct to the EU to apply for them – with no guarantee of success and without ever involving the LEP or Devon County Council.
It seems that, increasingly, wherever funds are available that just happen to include Devon and Somerset, from whatever source and whatever the wider geographical area, it is attributed to somehow being available thanks to our Heart of the Southwest Local Enterprise Partnership and gives the impression that they are somehow involved in both acquiring and disseminating said moolah.
Whereas the reality is that they, and Devon County Council, are simply acting as publicists of grant funding information via their web pages from third parties with no direct links at all to the LEP. Something anyone can do.
Owl could advertise that X amount of money is available in Owl’s hunting ground …
But is this added value? Is it transparent?
East Devon Watch 