Horizontal Themes

Under the Objective 2 programme, each project seeking a grant was required to address three themes. The themes were called horizontal themes because they cut across all of the priority areas.

The Horizontal Themes

Innovation

The aim of this horizontal theme was to restore the competitive advantage of the West Midlands Objective 2 area.

Innovation was defined as "the successful exploitation of ideas by individuals or businesses", and the eventual aim of this theme was to embed an innovation culture in the West Midlands, changing the behaviour of individuals within organisations and organisations themselves.

Environmental Sustainability

The two main aims of this theme were: to ensure that most significant negative environmental impacts resulting from the delivery of the Objective 2 programme were minimised or avoided to influence wider environmental impact, helping to bring about positive structural changes to the regional economy.

This theme drew on European, national and regional environmental policy and had three key issues. These were:

• Creating a positive urban environment by minimising noise and waste,
• Protecting the landscape through wildlife management 
• Safeguarding the air, soil and water quality.

Specific environmental outputs and targets exist that were required to be met, and the environmental impact of the programme was closely monitored: all projects were required to complete an environmental checklist.

Equality of Opportunity

 This horizontal theme sought to redress imbalances in the labour market by promoting equality. The four key issues of this theme were:

• under-representation of disadvantaged groups in growing and new industries
• over-representation in jobs with lower rates of pay, lower skill occupations, and part time jobs with lower levels of employer supported/provided training
• lower activity rates and poor employability as defined by key skills
• barriers to improved employment, training opportunites and service provision