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Future of Scotland's enterprise networks
26/09/2007
Proposals to overhaul Scotland's enterprise networks were announced today.
During a statement to parliament, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said that re-energised enterprise networks will be the firm foundation on which increased, sustainable economic growth is built in Scotland.
He said the changes would make Scottish Enterprise (SEn) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE):
- More clearly focused on the goal of delivering sustainable economic growth
- More responsive to the needs of businesses and the Scottish economy as a whole. Central to the proposals are:
- A strategic forum involving Ministers, officials, SEn, HIE, and Visit Scotland to provide clear ministerial leadership and promote greater integration and collaboration
- The removal of Local Enterprise Companies to be replaced by five regional operations, each with their own business led regional advisory board. HIE will retain its board, a regional business panel will be set up for the area
- The transfer of responsibility for the provision of local business support through Business Gateway operations and local regeneration functions to local authorities
- An agenda of co-location of local enterprise staff alongside relevant local authority colleagues. We expect these reforms will mean that local businesses are able to reach a single point of access for advice on planning, licensing, business development and other services
- The transfer of most skills and training elements from the enterprise networks to a single skills body resulting from the merger of Careers Scotland and learndirect Scotland. SEn and HIE will continue to deliver interventions that are specific to business growth, such as leadership development programmes
- The transfer into SEn - initially on a joint venture basis - of the business and innovation grant functions, such as Regional Selective Assistance, currently delivered by the Scottish Government
- A requirement for the enterprise networks, VisitScotland and the skills body to look to share services where possible.
Mr Swinney said:
"The proposals we have set out in this statement will reinvigorate the enterprise networks - re-energising them towards a shared goal with Government of delivering increased and sustainable economic growth.
"We will remove the unnecessary bureaucracy created by having 21 separate LEC boards with 21 sets of governance arrangements. Instead, there will be six regional operations across Scotland.
"This is an important step in reducing bureaucracy and streamlining local enterprise development delivery. However, in removing the LEC and LEF structures, our overriding concern is to preserve their best features, particularly the vital engagement they provided with local business.
"We will also be taking forward the presumption that more and more Scottish Enterprise staff should be located around Scotland rather than at their Headquarters.
"With Scottish Enterprise firmly focused on national and regional priorities it is entirely right that local authorities assume an enhanced role in local economic development.
"What we expect to achieve out of these reforms is that local businesses will be able to reach a single point of access for advice - planning, licensing, business development and other services and that will be a great contrast to the pillar to post experience of many businesses today.
"Later this year the Government will publish its economic strategy that will be implemented by our refocused, re-invigorated enterprise networks. As a result, the foundations we have laid today will be crucial in creating the more successful, wealthier and fairer Scotland of the future."
For SEn these regions will be:
- Grampian (Aberdeen City and Shire)
- Tayside (Dundee, Perth & Kinross, Angus)
- East and Central Scotland (Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Stirling)
- South of Scotland (Borders, Dumfries and Galloway)
- West Central Scotland (Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Dunbartonshire, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire)
There will be a single region served by Highlands & Islands Enterprise.
These regional offices will deliver national and regional economic development activity in their respective areas. They, alongside the other offices within each region, will be involved in providing company account management, support for priority industries and the delivery of regional and national projects.
Existing local offices located throughout Scotland will continue and enterprise network staff will remain in those offices, working as now with local businesses and stakeholders. But - consistent with the approach to efficient government - the Government will be pursuing an agenda of co-location of these staff with relevant local authority staff to ensure a cohesive, joined-up service is available to members of the public.
To further promote integration with the tourism sector, VisitScotland will align its own areas around the six enterprise networks regions. It will continue to look at new mechanisms to improve its engagement with the industry at a local level. Indeed, work in this area is already underway by VisitScotland. These changes will ensure that VisitScotland and the enterprise networks are well placed to maximise the economic potential of tourism to Scotland, in partnership with the tourism industry.
The proposals also envisage a substantial transfer of functions from SEn HQ into its local and regional offices.
The Strategic Forum will ensure that all economic development agencies are working in a co-ordinated way to achieve greater economic growth. The strategic forum will promote greater alignment and more integrated activity, initially between Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, and VisitScotland. The intention is to hold the first meeting as soon as possible.
The Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced plans to bring a national focus on skills by bringing organisations together into a single skills body earlier this month.
Ms Hyslop also set out her plans to merge Careers Scotland with learndirect Scotland to form the nucleus of a new skills body. Today it has been confirmed the main skills and training elements of the enterprise networks will also be part of that body. However, the enterprise networks will retain those interventions which are business-specific and which form a crucial part of their account management function. These include leadership development programmes and business mentoring schemes.
Futureskills Scotland will move into the Scottish Government but will continue to influence the development of strategy in both the enterprise networks and the new skills body.
The Business Gateway provides advice to new start and local businesses serving mainly local markets. It is appropriate that it should be delivered by local authorities with whom these businesses already interact on a range of local issues. It was also announced that the Business Gateway will become a national service and will be extended to cover the HIE area. Improvements to the business gateway to reflect the more rural nature of the highlands and islands should also benefit businesses in rural lowland Scotland.
Local regeneration activity in the Scottish Enterprise area will also become the responsibility of local authorities.
In order to achieve greater alignment of economic development activity, the enterprise networks, VisitScotland and the new skills body twill be asked to put arrangements in place to share services across a range of areas. This will not just apply to back office functions like finance, legal and IT. Opportunities will be sought to share more mainstream activity such as marketing and priority sector working.