Audit Committee, 29 Oct 2002
Meeting date: Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Official Report
119KB pdf
“Local economic forums: A baseline performance statement”
We move to agenda item 3, which is a briefing from the Auditor General on a baseline performance statement report on local economic forums—or fora—in Scotland. I invite the Auditor General to brief the committee on his report.
I would welcome advice outside the meeting as to whether we should use forums or fora. I took a strategic decision to use forums.
The convener prefers fora, but we can argue about that later.
So does the deputy convener.
That settles it.
I am truly independent of the committee.
As members of the Audit Committee know well, the Scottish Executive established local economic forums in April 2000 in response to a recommendation from the Parliament's Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee. The Auditor General and the Accounts Commission for Scotland gave a commitment to monitor the position and report on the subject.
This report is unusual, in that it sets out the position that the new organisations inherited as a baseline for monitoring future progress. At this stage, we have not drawn conclusions; we have produced evidence on which further studies can be developed. We also signal our intention to produce towards the end of 2003 a follow-up report that will detail the progress that has been made by each local economic forum. The report before the committee sets a marker for that process.
We attempted to outline the position of the forums against a series of indicators. Those indicators are included in a performance measurement framework that is designed to monitor the forums' performance. The report also sets out the important issues that the forums will be expected to address. The first is the clear perception among businesses of the existence of overlap and duplication. The second is the examples of overlap that the forums have identified, which include duplication of services and multiple application forms. The third is the scope to release and redirect funds for other purposes more efficiently and more effectively as an assistance to business. The final issue is the continuing need for close partnership working at a local level, which the forums have recognised as an issue.
The next step will happen late next year, when we will undertake an analysis of progress. I welcome the committee's support for that measure. That analysis will involve an examination of the performance of the forums against each performance indicator. We also recognise the need for a wider examination of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public sector delivery of support to businesses. It is probable that the study will extend beyond the examination of local economic forums that is predicated in the report in order to combine the results of that examination with a consideration of the wider issue of support to business.
I am happy to answer questions from the committee.
I remind the committee that we are to consider those matters in detail under item 5. Do members have any general comments to make at this stage?
I have a question about overlap and delivery. Major changes are being made to the enterprise network in Scotland. The amalgamated enterprise trusts are becoming dependent on being the deliverers for local enterprise companies. I assume that that relationship will be explored in some detail, but will the discussions that are taking place about the proposed changes at Scottish Enterprise make it possible for you to do that? Does the time scale for the report depend on whether the Scottish Enterprise network comes up with further proposals about its own structure?
There is always a difficulty when the policy agenda in an area changes. It is quite possible that we will have to consider fine tuning the timing of the report, but we have set a target of towards the end of next year. I want to give the committee a firm commitment that, at the very least, we will examine the progress of the local economic forums. In other words, depending on the wider situation, we may have to restrict the scope of the report next year.
I thank the Auditor General for that briefing. We will return to the report in greater depth later in the meeting.