Scottish Government

8 CROSS-CUTTING THEMES

In the 2000-06 programming period, cross-cutting themes were defined to act as underpinning policy priorities and be applied across all programmes. These horizontal themes were embedded at all stages of programming, from project design and application, through project selection to implementation and, finally, to project monitoring and evaluation. As the Adding Value, Keeping Value report on lessons of earlier programmes made clear, this commitment to a series of overarching policy objectives running through the programmes should be maintained into the 2007-13 period.

For the 2007-13 programmes, the intention is to build on the work of the horizontal themes in 2000-06 programming and further mainstream them. The General Regulation of the 2007-13 Structural Funds makes clear the need to address the issue in Article 3.1 (and further set out in Article 17):

The action taken under the Funds shall incorporate, at national and regional level, the Community's priorities in favour of sustainable development by strengthening growth, competitiveness, employment and social inclusion and by protecting and improving the quality of the environment.

As the Lowlands & Uplands Scotland ERDF Programme has been developed with a view to supporting sustainable development in Scotland, the horizontal themes to be supported in the 2007-13 period reflect the commitment to achieving that goal. Sustainable development consists of three key elements:

• the sustainable growth of the Scottish economy in a way that does not compromise the environmental resources of future generations;
• the inclusion of as much as Scottish society as possible in the achievement and benefits of that growth, through equal opportunities and social inclusions actions; and
• the conservation of Scotland's environmental assets in pursuing sustainable development.

As the Programme already has as its central aim to contribute towards the sustainable growth of the region's economy by balancing support for underlying sources of national as well as regional competitiveness, the economic growth strand of sustainable development is already recognised. To ensure that the other two elements are mainstreamed effectively in the programme, three horizontal themes have been identified:

• equal opportunities;
• environmental sustainability; and
• social inclusion.

While they will be subject to common processes in the programme, they are discussed in turn below.

8.1 Equal Opportunities

A Structural Funds commitment to equal opportunities is clearly set out in the General Regulation at Article 16:

The Member States and the Commission shall ensure that equality between men and women and the integration of the gender perspective is promoted during the various stages of implementation of the Funds. The Member States and the Commission shall take appropriate steps to prevent any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation during the various stages of implementation of the Funds and, in particular, in the access to them. In particular, accessibility for disabled persons shall be one of the criteria to be observed in defining operations co-financed by the Funds and to be taken into account during the various stages of implementation

In Scotland, a wide view of equality has traditionally underpinned the design and operation of Structural Funds programmes, encompassing not just the integration of a gender perspective into all stages of programming, but ethnicity, disability, age and sexual orientation perspectives as well. All these perspectives have been applied to the design of the Programme and will permeate its delivery to ensure that no discrimination on any of these bases will take place. The 'mainstreaming' approach has been set out in the Scottish Government's Equality Strategy - Working Together for Equality:

Mainstreaming equality is the systematic integration of an equality perspective into the everyday work of government, involving policy makers across all government departments, as well as equality specialists and external partners.

The Equality Strategy will be fully integrated into the design of the Scottish Structural Funds programmes. This can be seen in the Strategy's Objectives and how they apply to the programme:

• to make sure that an equality perspective is integrated into the Scottish Government's work and activity in policy and programme development, legislation and spending plans, service design and delivery: in the Structural Funds programme, this has been apparent in the use of specialist workshops and 'equality' proofing in the development of the programme;
• to follow policies and programmes that seek to address the inequalities and exclusion which result from discrimination: the programmes have a range of 'vertical' and 'horizontal' measures designed to tackle discrimination, as outlined below;
• to extend the ownership of and commitment to this strategy to all key public, private and voluntary sector bodies, equality specialists, academics and trade unions: the mainstreaming approach described below is intended to ensure that all Structural Funds partners build the equality perspective into their project design and delivery;
• to promote the inclusion of under-represented groups in policymaking, decision-making and public appointments: representation of the target equality groups are included in the key decision-making and advisory bodies of the Programme;
• to foster greater understanding of and respect for Scotland's different communities: the publicity, good practice and training actions envisaged under the Programme's approach to equal opportunities have been developed from this perspective; and
• to educate and raise awareness about discrimination and the need for it to be challenged: the profiling of equal opportunities as a key horizontal theme in the programmes shows this commitment to awareness-raising.

Scotland has a strong tradition in mainstreaming equal opportunities into Structural Funds programming and past experience has formed the basis for the approach set out for 2007-13 programmes. The experience was extensively examined in the mid-term evaluations of the 2000-06 programmes, which gave special attention to the horizontal themes. In the case of equal opportunities, the common theme in the evaluations was the strong embedding of a mainstreaming approach in the management and administration of Structural Funds, but limits to pushing partners to develop their existing approach to equality further in their projects. Responding to these comments, the programmes developed a common Equal Opportunities Good Practice Guide, Equality in Practice - Making It Work, which picked out the principles and practical examples of mainstreaming equal opportunities into project design and delivery. Similarly, the report of the Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities in the EU Structural Funds Conference held in Glasgow in 2003 has also shaped the approach taken for 2007-13.

The Equal Opportunities Impact Assessment took forward the equal opportunities dimension in programme development, as summarised in an annex. As a result, the aim of the 2007-13 Programmes for equal opportunities is to take forward the work that has been done by earlier programmes. The vision is:

to increase the opportunities within the Programme for all groups and to prioritise and adapt support for groups facing particular disadvantages to participation.

The vision will be delivered through two objectives:

• to adjust the scope of the Programme to support the particular needs of groups facing barriers to achieving sustainable employment and access to lifelong learning; and
• to improve the approach to mainstreaming equal opportunities in Scotland.

These objectives are part of a twofold approach to equal opportunities. The first objective will be addressed through direct support for projects that explicitly aim to achieve equal opportunities goals. The approach is integrated across all four priorities. This can be seen in examples of the types of activities in support of equal opportunities eligible under the different Priorities:

• Priority 1
  • Projects should take pro-active measures to ensure that skilled individuals from all backgrounds have the opportunity to work on supported research and innovation projects.
• Priority 2
  • Support for enterprise start-ups will be monitored to ensure that key target groups are being sufficiently represented. Where under-representation is notable, support will be available to projects to address any particular issues relating to publicity and take-up as well as deeper issues relating to entrepreneurship in certain groups.
• Priority 3
  • Where support is given for limited infrastructure developments, they will be required to demonstrate that the needs of disabled people were fully taken into account in building design.
• Priority 4
  • The rural dimension to disadvantage should be fully considered in project design - for example, the problems of peripherality exacerbate the problems faced by some disadvantaged groups in accessing some enterprise support projects.

The second objective of the Programme's vision for equal opportunities will be achieved through a wider mainstreaming of the horizontal theme into Programme processes. This will mean that explicit consideration of the issues will be required at every stage of Structural Funds-supported policy and project design: from the initial development of the project/scheme through application for Structural Funds support to actual project activity and finally, monitoring and evaluation. Structural Funds cannot affect a cultural change alone, but through mainstreaming, help to set up procedures that will inform policy-making and project design more generally.

The instruments for mainstreaming build on existing methods which have been tested and assessed under earlier programmes, not just in Scotland but elsewhere in the UK.

• Administration and management: The equal opportunities perspective outlined here will be applied throughout the different management and administration arrangements of the Programme. The Programme Monitoring Committee will work to have a balanced representation in line with the equal opportunities vision set out above. Similar representation will be pursued for the roles and responsibilities set out in Chapter 7 above, in line with the equal opportunities policies set out for the Scottish Government and the Intermediate Administration Body.
• Capacity. The experience of 2000-06 programmes has shown the importance of having equal opportunities champions and expertise in different parts of programme delivery. Champions will be designated for the different committees, particularly the Programme Monitoring Committee and advisory groups in the Programme, in many cases drawn from relevant Scottish organisations. However, the Programme's commitment to equal opportunities will not be concentrated in individuals, but be a dimension to all delivery activities. Consequently, short-term expertise will be used for training different parts of the delivery system to mainstream equal opportunities on a continuing basis through the Programme lifetime. There is also a need for expert advice to be available to projects in terms of meeting their equal opportunities obligations. This will be provided through the 'delivery body' and core guidance and good practice material.
• Selection: To encourage projects to take full account of equal opportunities, the principle will be embedded in the application and selection system for projects. All projects will be required to demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities as a core programme criteria at each part in the application form, showing - where relevant - how the issue has been taken fully into account at all stages of project design, implementation and evaluation. A minimum level of commitment needs to be demonstrated for project selection. Where projects can demonstrate that they are exceeding regulatory norms in their approach to equal opportunities, they will be given a higher score.
• Monitoring: To assess the equal opportunities impact of the Programme, relevant indicators have been built into the project monitoring system. The issue will be reviewed annually for the Programme Monitoring Committee and independently assessed as part of thematic evaluation during the course of the Programme.

8.2 Environmental Sustainability

As defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainable development entails " development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" ( WCED, 1987). Environmental sustainability is the component in a sustainable development approach governing how the environmental resources of a region are used. While usually referring to the treatment of the physical environment, environmental sustainability has wider implications beyond natural resource usage, involving cultural attitudes to environmental protection. Consequently, environmental sustainability has several elements that should be addressed in programming:

• ensuring that economic and social development is fully in line with the conservation of the surrounding environment and its biodiversity;
• making full economic and sustainable use of environmental assets so that conservation and economic development goals reinforce each other rather than work in opposition or require compromise; and
• raising awareness of the importance of environmental sustainability as a fundamental consideration in project /policy-making more widely.

This has been given higher profile in recent years with the EU's commitment to the principle through Gothenburg and in the UK, by the recently-published Stern Report.

Within Scotland, there is a strong tradition of environmental sustainability in domestic policy, both in terms of giving it due policy prominence as an area in its own right as well as promoting it as a key influence on all policy-making. As the Scottish chapter of the National Strategic Reference Framework detailed, the Structural Funds programmes in Scotland for 2007-13 will reflect both goals by being fully informed by the key environmental sustainability statements of policy, particularly the Green Jobs Strategy, the Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The Green Jobs Strategy was discussed in Section 3.1 above; the other two strategies are discussed below.

The Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy, set out in 2005, shares with the UK the common aspiration:

to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations

The strategy has four sets of principles:

• sustainable consumption and production: achieving more with less by reducing the inefficient use of resources, considering the impact of products and materials across their whole lifecycle and encouraging people to take into account the social and environmental consequences of their purchasing choices;
• climate change and energy use: securing a profound change in the way in which energy is generated and used and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• natural resource protection and environmental enhancement: protecting natural resources by developing a better understanding of environmental limits and actively improving the quality of the environment; and
• sustainable communities: creating communities that embody the principles of sustainable development locally

These four principles have informed the development of the ERDF Programme. For example, sustainable consumption will be reflected in a commitment to funding and promoting greater 'greening' of enterprises and compelling projects to consider the consequences of their procuring choices. The active support of renewables would take forward the commitment to climate change and energy use. Natural and environment resource protection will be reinforced by supporting projects that give such objectives strong economic development grounding in making full sustainable economic use of environmental assets. Lastly, sustainable communities are the clear goal of Priority 3, where the aim is to support urban regeneration within the framework of sustainable economic development.

The Scottish biodiversity strategy - 'It's in Your Hands' - was published in 2004. While Structural Funds are limited in their pro-active contributions to direct conservation work, the principles of the strategy underpin the Programme with respect to proofing all funded project activity so that there is a neutral, if not positive impact of Structural Funds support on biodiversity within the region. All projects will need to take account of the strategy in making applications and the issue has been given explicit consideration in the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Programme (as set out in the annex).

There is also a strong tradition of environmental sustainability in Scottish Structural Funds programming. It has been a key horizontal theme in previous programmes, particularly in the 2000-06 period, where the approach to sustainable development was taken forward substantially. Structural Funds programming has developed a 'missionary' approach to environmental sustainability, viewing its embedding in wider policy-making as one of the legacy aims of the Programme. To a large extent, this has been achieved through the development of an archive of good practice projects and processes, which have informed the development of the approach taken in the 2007-13 programmes. For example:

• The Scottish Natural Heritage good practice guide, Linking Sustainable Development to Regional Development, has been an important source document in programme development.
• The approach was also an important focus in mid-term evaluations in the 2000-06 programming period. The evaluations noted the success in establishing a commitment to environmental sustainability across the different programmes, while acknowledging that there remained significant challenges to ensuring more than lip service at project level. Addressing these continuing challenges has been a UK-wide goal.
• Lastly, the 2007-13 programme has made use of UK research to tackle the issue, particularly Leaving a Legacy, a report of the Environmental Sustainability seminar for Structural Funds Programme practitioners in England.

To reflect these principles, it is important that Structural Funds play a catalytic and leading role in supporting the sustainable development aspirations of Scotland. The Programme will make a positive contribution to climate change and encourage carbon neutrality wherever possible. Activities supported under the Programme will be assessed to ensure they do not make a negative impact on the environment. In addition, the Strategic Environmental Assessment has made a number of recommendations that have informed the Programme on this theme (as set out in an annex). As a result, the environmental sustainability vision of the 2007-13 Programmes is as follows:

to ensure that Structural Funds programmes promote the sustainable use and conservation of Scottish environmental assets by enhancing the role of environmental sustainability in economic and social development policy-making

This translates into two distinct objectives governing Programme activities:

• to strengthen the mutual contributions of environmental sustainability and economic and social development in Structural Funds-supported activities; and
• to raise awareness of the role of environmental sustainability in project planning and policy development.

As with equal opportunities above, the two objectives embody a twofold approach to horizontal themes. The first objective will be addressed through direct support for projects that explicitly aim to achieve environmental sustainability goals. While the scope for this may be more apparent in Priority 4 (Rural Development) in the ERDF Programme, the approach is integrated across all four priorities. This can be seen in the types of activities in support of environmental sustainability that will be eligible under the different Priorities:

• Priority 1
  • The sustainable commercial use of renewables technologies is supported under this priority with the aim of promoting the development of a thriving new energy sector that will bring together economic development and climate change goals.
• Priority 2
  • A specific objective of the priority is to encourage the 'greening' of enterprises through improved resource efficiency. Eligible activities include environmental and carbon-use audits, more environmentally-sustainable production systems and business processes and plans for energy and resource efficiency.
  • The potential for a cultural change in environmental sustainability is more likely to develop with new rather than existing enterprises, particularly where energy and resource efficiency processes are mainstreamed into their practices from the start. In supporting new firm start-ups, the priority will link enterprise development support - whether advice or financial - with requirements for adoption of baseline environmental processes.
• Priority 3
  • Community regeneration can be taken forward in the context of environmental sustainability through funding of small-scale infrastructure developments for enterprises that comply with sustainable development goals - for example, the application of environmental building standards and the use of derelict/brownfield sites for development.
  • Activities to raise environmental awareness in communities and enterprises can be directly supported through the Programme.
  • Support for small-scale renewables in local energy generation will contribute to the local dimension of the wider Scottish sustainable development agenda.
• Priority 4
  • The economy of rural areas depends more clearly on use of environmental assets. The priority will support key environmentally-based activities such as wildlife/wilderness tourism.
  • Potential new sources of economic activity will be funded, including renewables.
  • Support will be available for improving the environmental sustainability of transport in rural areas through investments in pilot fuels and vehicles projects.

The second objective of the Programme's vision of environmental sustainability will be achieved through a wider mainstreaming of the horizontal theme into Programme processes. Again, paralleling the approach under equal opportunities, this will mean that environmental sustainability issues will be built into policy and project design at each stage. For example, this will include compliance with minimum construction standards and consistency with the Scottish biodiversity strategy. Projects that exceed environmental regulatory standards will be given higher scores in project scoring. More detailed criteria will be developed in advance of the first round of programming.

As noted, the scope of eligible activity has been extended to provide positive support to some of the issues, as recommended by the Strategic Environmental Assessment. These include:

• Support for environmental audits and carbon-footprint approaches for enterprises (Priority 2)
• Support for resource and energy efficiency initiatives by enterprises (Priority 2)
• Support for 'green design' and higher-than-required construction standards for building projects in support of sustainable communities (Priorities 3 and 4)

Monitoring has been informed by the Strategic Environmental Assessment as well. The Programme will measure the following on an on-going basis:

• Number of energy-saving and resource-efficiency projects
• Number of renewable energy projects (eg. the number of renewable energy research projects under Priority 1)

In addition, as Chapter 9 sets out, the Programme will conduct a thematic evaluation of the environmental sustainability impact of the Programme at a suitable juncture during the course of programming, which will examine effects on carbon emissions and energy/resource efficiency.

The instruments for mainstreaming are the same as those for equal opportunities with the exception of the Strategic Environmental Assessment. They build on existing methods which have been tested and assessed under earlier programmes, not just in Scotland but elsewhere in the UK. Not only do the 2007-13 Structural Funds Regulations require a strategic environmental assessment of Operational Programmes, but such assessments are a Scottish legislative requirement for new policy initiatives. For the ERDF Programme, the SEA has provided an environmental profile and baseline as well as an ex-ante commentary on the Programme's impact and handling of environmental sustainability (effectively 'proofing' the documents). The Programme has been developed through iterative feedback with the SEA.

Lastly, in order to ensure that EU funding is channelled and used in an optimum way to promote sustainable development, Member States and the Commission will aim to co-ordinate to enhance complementarities and synergies between various strands of Community and other co-financing mechanisms, including, as well as cohesion policy, rural development, LIFE+, research and development funding, the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme and the European Fisheries Fund.

Consequently, in summary, the Programme will support the sustainable development and climate change aspirations of domestic and EU policy by:

• setting an overall strategic commitment to reducing carbon emissions and energy usage across the Programme as a whole;
• encouraging the development of 'green' economic development projects under the different priorities, notably renewable energy research projects (Priority 1), resource/energy efficiency business processes (Priority 2), support for enterprises developing biodiversity and other 'environmental' products and services (Priority 4), renewable energy generation and distribution (Priorities 3 and 4), 'green' construction/conversion of business facilities (Priorities 3 and 4) and 'green' transport initiatives (Priority 4);
• mainstreaming environmental sustainability by requiring all projects to demonstrate how they will address the cross-cutting theme in their projects and ensuring that minimum standards are met as a condition of awards;
• embedding environmental sustainability awareness and expertise in Programme processes through advice to project applicants, advisory group members and programme managers;
• monitoring progress towards the sustainable development commitment through specific indicators and dedicated thematic evaluations, as set out in Chapter 9.

8.3 Social Inclusion

The essential principle of the 'European Social Model' is to reconcile social inclusion, competitiveness and economic performance. Structural Funds can act as a catalyst to ensure a genuine interaction between social policies and economic policies. The Lisbon Strategy centred on growth and employment, was taken up by the European Council in a broader context so that it formed both a social agenda and a durable development strategy. It is that broader context which is reflected in the Scottish Structural Funds programmes.

Social inclusion is about reducing inequalities between the least advantaged communities and the rest of society by closing the opportunity gap and ensuring that support reaches those who need it most. It means actively promoting opportunities to participate, whether in work, in learning or in society more generally. Having this as a cross cutting theme will help ensure that communities are strengthened and regenerated, that young people get the best possible start in life and the opportunity to fulfil their potential, and that older members of these communities are able to contribute fully while also improving their skills, and their future financial security.

An essential part of the commitment to the Lisbon and Nice strategies was to secure greater social inclusion and to make a decisive impact on poverty. The UK's National Action Plan on Social Inclusion describes the current position in the UK and the action that the UK Government will take in the years 2006 to 2008 to tackle poverty and increase social inclusion. This plan reflects an in-depth engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including people experiencing poverty, the voluntary and community sector, and devolved and local government.

Through work people can lift themselves and their children out of poverty by raising their income and expectations. That is why employment is at the heart of our approach to inclusion, while ensuring security and support for those who cannot work.

Strong links must be made between the Closing the Opportunity Gap approach to social inclusion (as set out in Chapter 3) and Structural Funds policy and implementation in the new programme, so that the Structural Funds can be used to enhance Scotland's social inclusion agenda. Social inclusion cannot be a secondary aim, or a product of the state of the economy. It has a fundamental value in its own right that contributes to the durable development of an 'economic and social model', which combines a social objective and an economic objective forming an integrated strategy where the social policy is designed as an investment in the human capital and is therefore a productive factor.

Against this background, the vision of the 2007 - 2013 Programme for social inclusion is:

to ensure that economic growth and tackling exclusion go hand in hand to help people overcome multiple barriers to employment and realise their full potential.

The vision will be delivered through two objectives:

• to focus on: the most important issues that will make the most difference to people's lives; the most disadvantaged individuals; the issues where progress has been slowest; and the issues where the Scottish Government has the power to make a difference; and
• to improve the way in which services are provided to help people overcome multiple barriers to employment, education or training, and realise their potential.

The first challenge is obviously that of exclusion and unemployment or inactivity. Working to reduce the divide between those who benefit from globalisation and those who are excluded from it is key. The second is to focus on supporting people through the changes that globalisation will bring, develop new skills and make the most of their talents. However, it is also essential to improve access to the services and advice which can enable individuals to engage, and reduce the number of those who feel threatened by a growing risk of poverty. In this way the benefits of a growing economy can be carried over to our social institutions to create new safety measures as economic and social reforms move together.

This approach can be seen in the types of activities in support of social inclusion which are eligible under the different priorities in the programme:-

• Priority 1
  • Requiring additional help for individuals, such as young people, disabled people, ethnic minorities or migrant workers, who face barriers to developing research capacity in their enterprises.
• Priority 2
  • Ensuring that all groups have equitable access to the financial engineering instruments supported under the Programme.
• Priority 3
  • Creating sustainable vibrant outward-looking communities in disadvantaged areas by connecting the people living there with opportunities in neighbouring accessible areas.
• Priority 4
  • Supporting economic regeneration in rural areas to reduce the exclusion and isolation felt by these communities, and increase their prosperity.

An inclusive labour market supports social inclusion and a well functioning economy. This is a long-term approach, which requires a balance between the objectives of social inclusion and economic objectives. The reality that poverty and exclusion is not decreasing among all groups or communities, despite the efforts so far, points clearly to the fact that actions to close the opportunity gap need to be mainstreamed across all the new Structural Funds programmes and priorities.