Catalogue description Welsh Office: Economic Planning Division: Registered Files (EP Series)

This series contains files in the EP series raised by the Economic Planning Division of the Welsh Office. Subjects covered include development of industry, employment, ports and harbours and transport matters including air transport and the road programme. This series also contains files concerning the Welsh Development Agency and the regional dispersal of the Royal Mint organisation.

Records relating to European Union Structural Funds are also included in this prefix; chief amongst such Funds was the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). There were seven key principles governing the allocation of the ERDF to nations. These were: the development of poorer regions; assistance to areas in long term industrial decline; combating long term and structural unemployment; the integration of young people into employment; the restructuring of agriculture and fisheries; the development of rural areas, and; the development of sparsely populated areas. EDRF objectives specifically mentioned in the records refer to: Objective 2 (Regional Competitiveness Employment) covering grants for industrial redevelopment and employment projects in depressed areas. Two further objectives existed: Objective 1 (Convergence) and Objective 3 (European Territorial Cooperation).

from 1995 Welsh Office

During its existence, the division was known by a number of different names, and although all files bear the prefix EP, many were originally registered in series reflecting these earlier names, but with the setting up of the Economic Planning Division in 1967, earlier files with original references EID and S & D were re-registered into the EP series. These earlier files include the records of the Economic Intelligence Unit, the Survey and Development Division, and the Welsh Study Group. A number of files were also re-registered from the WA, WAL, (BD 24) and G (BD 25) series.