On 23 March, the Government launched the England 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds programme.

Greater Birmingham and Sollihul LEP is participating in the first calls with £17.5 M ERDF available to bid against. This amount will be split over innovation, SME Competitiveness and Low Carbon themes.

A separate call planned for European Social Fund (ESF) applications against Youth Employment Initative (YEI) of £39 million (joint ESF/YEI).

There are a series of closing dates for outline applications finishing in late May 2015.

The calls for projects will be detailed on gov.uk/european-growth-funding

The LEP ESIF strategy is available at: http://centreofenterprise.com/european-funding-strategy-consultation/

For local LEP information on the calls contact by email : esif@solihull.gov.uk