Background
A review of the Enterprise Networks in Scotland was
launched in December 1999 by Ministers. The aim was to
examine the Networks' responsiveness, effectiveness and
appropriateness for the challenges that the Scottish
Economy faces in the 21
st Century.
The Review was a natural progression of the
Framework for
Economic Development in Scotland published by the Executive
on 29
th June 2000. The Framework sets out the
Executive's vision that economic development should raise
the quality of life of the Scottish people through
increasing economic opportunities for all, on a socially
and environmentally sustainable basis.
The
Review
Issues Paper was published in February 2000 and
circulated to a wide range of interest groups and
organisations. Views were sought from key Scottish
businesses and academics, SEn and HIE and LEC
representatives, local authorities and a number of other
organisations. The review benchmarked the Scottish networks
against those in other countries and a team of independent
advisers contributed ideas and give advice on the
review.
Review Outcomes
The Interim Conclusions of the review were announced to
Parliament on 6
th July 2000 (
background paper
in pdf file format). The
full
report on the Interim Conclusions of the Review was
published on 6
th November 2000.
The main outcomes of the Review include:
- Addressing the
need for strategic clarity to the
Enterprise Networks - a Strategy for Enterprise,
A Smart Successful Scotland was delivered on 30
th January 2001. This is the first ever
comprehensive policy statement which sets out clear
focus for the Enterprise Networks and clarifies the
relationships with the Executive.
- Building on changes already in hand within the
Enterprise Networks to continue the
improvement in co-ordination within
and between the networks - a number of reforms badged
under the SEN 2000 initiative - are being implemented
at Scottish Enterprise to bring about a more cohesive,
streamlined and customer-driven Network which can strip
out costly internal processes and address significant
duplication of functions. Similar reforms are in place
at Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
- Streamlining and improving access to business
support services - the
Small
Business Gateway scheme was launched in July 2000
and is now evolving into a single Business Gateway
- Improving appraisal and evaluation
and making the performance of the network more
transparent - as indicated in A Smart Successful
Scotland, a Joint Performance Team reviews
performance and sets challenging targets for the
Networks. This enables performance to be judged
against the key challenges identified by the
Executive.
- Achieving further
improvements in streamlining, and Network
effectiveness and efficiency and establish
the LECs unambiguously as 'public' to bolster the
necessary confidence in terms of
accountability - the status of
LECs will be changed to become wholly owned
subsidiaries of either SEn or HIE will become
effective in April.
- Local Economic Forums, composed of all the
relevant public and private sector bodies as a
vehicle for driving simplification in local
economic development. Local Economic Forums will
consider local needs within the national framework,
agree to align activities in pursuit of these local
needs, develop clarity in roles and
responsibilities for the agencies involved and
bring more coherence in the delivery of local
economic development.