ESF Regional Conference - Tackling Exclusion and Poverty

Thursday 19 May 2011
@ Europe House, Westminster

LVSTC organised this event to take place during Adult Learners’ Week, to reflect on latest developments with the European Social Fund across Europe, England and London, in particular.

The main objectives of the event were to give those interested in ESF an opportunity:

• to raise awareness of ESF opportunities in the final phases of the 2007–13 Programme
  as well as in the promise of early preparations for the 2014–2020 Programme;
• to gain a practical grasp of key operational issues facing involvement in the current
  ESF London Programme;
• to gather and review the experience of voluntary and community sector providers
  and beneficiaries around ESF in London, as part of Adult Learners’ Week.

Below are the presentations from the speakers at the event.

Opening Welcome and Plenary:
The Road Ahead - the shaping of ESF in Europe, in UK , and in London

Jean Lambert MEP
Member of Employment & Social Affairs Committee
Negotiating the future of the European Structural Funds

Dr Sue Baxter
Deputy Director, EU Programme, BIS
The UK position on the 2014–2020 ESF Programme presentation

Alex Conway
Director European Programmes, LDA
London's 2011–2013 ESF Programme presentation

Second Plenary:
Opportunities in the coming months - engaging with ESF in London

Dave Simmonds OBE
Chief Executive, Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion
The impact of the Work Programme on ESF

Andrew Gates
Policy Implementation Manager, GLA
The GLA perspective on employment and skills in London presentation

Paul Crosswell
Head of ESF Provider Accounts, SFA London
Investing in London's Skills presentation

Afternoon Plenary:
Challenges facing the voluntary sector - the scope for the sector as service providers

Simon Beer
Programme Director, NIACE London & South East
Developments in adult and comunity learning presentation

Sandra Turner
Chief Executive, Third Sector European Network
Issues around the ESF England Programme presentation

Hamish Robertson
Head, Strategic Relationship Management, CDG
Building capacity as a voluntary sector prime contractor presentation

Peter Lewis
Director, London Voluntary Services Council
The London challenge going forward presentation