This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Manufacturing matters - Henry McLeish
29/09/1999
Scottish Minister for Enterprise & Lifelong Learning, Henry McLeish today pledged that the Government will work to achieve a more vibrant future for the manufacturing sector and announced more effective support for companies in difficulty.
Speaking in a debate in the Scottish Parliament, Mr McLeish said:
"It is clear that the manufacturing sector has been going through some testing times recently. Employment has declined in recent decades, a trend mirrored in all other advanced economies. However manufacturing matters and I am determined that it should remain a cornerstone of the Scottish economy.
"We have in Scotland a number of manufacturing companies which are world class and many others which have the potential to become world class.
"A vibrant future will only be achieved through change: industry needs to modernise and invest, to seek new opportunities and to pursue innovation and skills development.
"We have to sharpen our competitive edge and boost procedures.
"My recent trip to America highlighted the need for industry to recognise that we live in a world where there is harsher competition and more rapid technological change than ever before. To succeed we must be more enterprising, we need to encourage more small businesses, more entrepreneurs and more investment whether it is domestic or inward investment and more innovations that become new businesses.
"It is only through modernisation that a stronger Scottish economy can be built - that the high and stable levels of growth and employment we want to achieve in the Scottish economy of the future can be achieved.
"Only new approaches will rise to these new challenges. I am determined to ensure that our manufacturing strategy will play an important part in delivering jobs and prosperity to the Scottish economy."
Mr McLeish announced the establishment of the Rapid Response Initiative saying:
"Recent job losses have brought home the need for a consistent, rapid and united approach for dealing with companies and more importantly the individuals involved.
"I am determined to work with all key agencies to create the conditions necessary to improve partnership working which will ensure a coherent and consistent approach to potential and actual closure announcements across Scotland.
"My Department will therefore be reviewing this with the support organisations involved in responding to redundancy announcements. The aims of the review are to identify the lead roles of the various local agencies involved in the process, to determine how best they can work in partnership and to establish a framework for a strategic response plan.
"I want all key partners to be fully committed to this and will be writing out to all local agencies and to representatives of the business community as well as the STUC, inviting them to commit their organisations to the concept of a strategic framework for dealing with potential and actual redundancy situations within Scotland.
"We will be arranging a series of practitioners' events across Scotland towards the end of October with a view to identifying best practice and establishing a strategic framework which will enable improved partnership approach to company difficulty at all stages.
"This will enable us to have revised procedures in place by the end of the year."
BACKGROUND
1. Officials from the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise have recently set up a small project team to investigate how to improve the local response from support organisations to large scale redundancy announcements.
2. The aims of the project are to identify the lead roles of the various local agencies, how best they can work in partnership and to establish a framework for a strategic redundancy response plan to ensure a coherent and consistent approach within Scotland.
3. A series of practitioners' workshops is planned for end October. These will take place in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Aberdeen and representatives from the LECs, local authorities, Employment Services, Benefits Agency and careers guidance office will be invited to attend and contribute to the framework.
4. A draft document will then be circulated to interested parties for comment, with a view to production of a strategic framework by mid-December.
News Release: SE0744/99
29 September, 1999