1. DG EMPL studies on the ESF future
European Commission – DG EMPL
E1 – ESF Policy and Legislation, Financial Engineering
ESF Committee – 15 June 2011

2. List of studies Return on ESF investment in human capital
Statistical study of costs and beneficiaries data
Performance based management
Setting and adjusting performance targets
Administrative and institutional capacity building
Administrative costs and burdens
Focus groups: on proportionality, financial engineering, local actors involvement
All reports will be uploaded on the ESF web-site

3. 1 - Return on ESF investment in human capital - coverage
Definition: public expenditures for (un)employed on:
education and training
internships and temporary work placement
strengthening the capacity of education and training systems and structures.
synthesis of available research findings
validation with expert panel (USA & EU)
impact analyses on data provided by BE/Flanders, IT/Northern regions, HU and PL
taking into account evaluation findings

4. 1 - Return on ESF investment in human capital – key messages
training of employed people is socially profitable, but not rewarding enough at the level of the firm  under-investment of private funds
training of unemployed people is socially profitable, but not for all target groups, and under the condition that it is associated with job-search assistance
a rationale for investing public money in systems and structures at the level of industry
it takes years for deriving lessons from an impact analysis; it means that impacts cannot be included in a performance monitoring system

5. 2 - Statistical study of costs and beneficiaries data
Ongoing, results in June/July 2011
Statistical study of costs and beneficiaries data
ESF data (SFC2007)
LMP data (Eurostat)
Years:
Aim: to set standard rates or costs for some type of operations
EU average
MS deviations from EU average

6. 3 - Performance based management - coverage
purpose:
to provide policy advice that could form the basis for a future reform of the ESF
to explore possibilities for introducing performance management elements in the relation between ESF managing authorities and the Commission
controllability and accountability problems

7. 3 - Performance based management – key messages
funding cannot be conditioned by results and impacts, but more realistic to use the aggregated outputs, milestones and occasionally some intermediate results
an alternative for aggregating the outputs, milestones and intermediate results of project would be to aggregate the “status” of the different projects
might be feasible to link funding to the performance achieved at Major Project level (ongoing discussion of Joint Action Plans)
introduction of a performance-based system should be accompanied with simplification

8. 4 - Setting and adjusting performance targets – coverage
present the relevant literature on performance measurement for public policies - ALMP and social inclusion
identify the methodologies used to assess them
propose methodologies to set and adjust ESF targets according to changes in the socio-economic environment
data from BE/Flanders, PL, HU and IT
also:
similar work done in the USA
discussed in the RBM expert network

9. 4 - Setting and adjusting performance targets - key messages (preliminary)
targets set in function of historical performance
Adjustment of targets: two methods tested based on
Micro data: robust model linking probability of finding employment with business cycle
 simple objective method to adjust targets
but (relatively) high data requirements
Macro data: model linking performance indicator with country-specific (economic) variables
less demanding data
but may be less applicable

10. 5 - Administrative and institutional capacity building - coverage
analyse the relevance of ESF interventions in administrative and institutional capacity building (ACB) and the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of those interventions;
elaborate recommendations on how this priority could work for the ESF in the future;
literature/documentary review and qualitative research;
analysis at 3 levels: EU, country and case studies; in-depth analysis of 10 selected countries (BG, EL, HU, LT, PL, PT, RO, SI, ES and UK/Wales).

11. 5 - Administrative and institutional capacity building – key messages
Report argues there is a strong case for a focused ACB extended beyond Convergence regions;
It should :
have a stronger focus on economic/employment needs,
be aligned with public administration reform frameworks,
cover local and regional actors,
be implemented in partnership with civil society and with active participation in EU-networking.

12. 6 - Administrative costs and burdens
ongoing, final report in September 2011
build on a similar study for ERDF and CF (DG REGIO) but focus on
likely impacts of simplified cost options and of results-based management on administrative costs and burdens
differences between ERDF/CF and ESF

13. Focus groups discussions - coverage
Not really a study
Series of meetings of experts to discuss proportionality and simplification, financial engineering and the involvement of local actors
Based on background documents
Five meetings in December 2010 / January 2011

14. Focus groups discussions – key messages
Legal certainty
Simplification (flat rate for Technical Assistance, costs/rates in regulations, national rules and procedures)
Support for the policy based guarantee and for designing comprehensive packages of services for providers of microfinance
No consensus on how far the partnership principle must be strengthened and detailed
Possible decreasing returns to the further involvement of numerous partners at national, regional and local level

15. Thank you for attention!