Enterprise Networks
The next item of business is a statement by John Swinney on enterprise networks. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions.
Next month, the Government will publish its economic strategy for Scotland, which will guide and direct the Government's efforts and the efforts of the agencies and organisations that work on the Government's behalf to achieve our purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth for Scotland. Today, the Government will set out the structures and mechanisms that will be employed to support the implementation of our economic strategy.
Before I set out the specifics of our proposals, I make clear the Government's on-going support for Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and VisitScotland. Scottish Enterprise, in particular, has been the subject of fairly heavy criticism in recent times; some of it was justified, and some was not. While it is important to address what has gone wrong, it is equally important to focus on what has gone right. Significant successes include the Edinburgh BioQuarter, the proof of concept programme, the Scottish manufacturing advisory service, the centre for health science in Inverness and the development of the Fife energy park.
None of those projects would have been realised without the commitment and hard work of our economic development agencies and the staff who advise and support businesses. They would not have been achieved without co-operation between local authorities and other public bodies. I am acutely aware that this has been an uncertain time for the enterprise network staff, which is why I was keen to come to Parliament to make a statement at the earliest possible opportunity.
The Government has been absolutely clear and consistent in its commitment to eliminate duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy as well as improve efficiency and effectiveness in all elements of the structures of government. Those considerations have been applied in our approach to the reform of the enterprise networks in Scotland.
The Government has pursued two objectives in designing the structures to implement our economic strategy. First, we have been determined to establish within the enterprise agencies a clear focus on fulfilling what we consider to be their core purpose of assisting enterprise development in Scotland. Secondly, we have been determined to create greater cohesion in the provision of local economic and enterprise development services in Scotland. Our plans will enable Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to focus on what they are good at, and will enable Scotland's local authorities—important partners in our efforts to build Scottish success—to do more to support businesses in their areas. Those objectives run through the announcements that I will make in this statement.
In preparing this statement, the Government has been engaged in a significant period of constructive debate and discussion with stakeholders, including a range of interests across the business community, local authorities, trade unions and, of course, the enterprise networks themselves. At the heart of our reforms is the need to ensure that we have clear direction in implementing our economic strategy for Scotland. To do that, we need to secure better and closer working between the agencies that have a shared responsibility to work with the Government to achieve our objectives for the Scottish economy. The Government's election manifesto signalled our commitment to establish a strategic forum for enterprise with exactly that purpose, and we intend to establish such a forum.
Scotland's enterprise forum will be convened by ministers on a quarterly basis and will bring together, initially, the chairs and chief executives of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and VisitScotland. I want those who lead those bodies to work closely together to enhance and support one another's activities, and to ensure that their respective interventions are delivered with one common goal: to grow Scotland's economy more sustainably and more effectively than before. The forum will also provide a frequent opportunity for ministers to make clear the direction that we expect to be pursued.
The forum will also drive a process to ensure that services are shared among the enterprise networks, VisitScotland and other relevant organisations. That process will ensure, at a practical and operational level, that there is no duplication of effort among our agencies and no wasted opportunity to ensure that valuable public resources are spent on key enterprise development activities. That will not just apply to back-office functions such as finance, legal services and information technology; opportunities will be sought to share more mainstream activities, such as marketing and working in priority sectors such as tourism. Over time, we will expect that approach to extend across the wider public sector and that other organisations will become involved in the process.
We have given careful consideration to the structures that should be in place to deliver enterprise development support throughout Scotland. Although the current local structure of local enterprise companies and local economic forums brings together a great deal of business engagement, we have come to the view that those bodies represent too fragmented a structure. The governance requirements for LECs were an obstacle to effective economic development at the local level. Progress was often achieved in spite of bureaucratic procedures and boundaries. We have come to the view that the current local enterprise company and local economic forum structures should be removed, and we have decided to establish a regional development delivery model for enterprise support in Scotland. I believe that that is an important step in reducing bureaucracy and streamlining local enterprise development delivery.
However, in removing the LEC and local enterprise forum structures, our overriding concern is to preserve their best features, in particular the vital engagement that they provided with business. Instead of 21 LECs with 21 boards and 21 sets of governance arrangements, there will be six regional operations across Scotland. For Scottish Enterprise those regions will be Grampian, Tayside, east central Scotland, south of Scotland and west central Scotland. There will be a single region served by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
To promote further integration with the tourism sector, VisitScotland will align its own areas around the six enterprise network regions. It will continue to look at new mechanisms to improve its engagement with the industry at the local level—VisitScotland is already doing work in that area. Those 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.
We will continue with the existing local offices that are located throughout Scotland. Enterprise network staff will remain in those offices, working, as they do now, with local businesses and stakeholders. However, consistent with our approach to efficient government, we will pursue an agenda of co-locating those staff with relevant local authority staff to ensure that a cohesive, joined-up service is available to members of the public. We will also take forward the presumption that more Scottish Enterprise and HIE staff should be located around Scotland rather than at their headquarters.
We must also involve Scotland's local authorities more fully in economic development and provide them with new opportunities to contribute to growing local business success. The Government is fully committed to developing a new relationship with Scotland's councils and recognises their vital role in creating flourishing local economies and communities. That is why we believe that community planning partnerships should have a clear remit and responsibility for economic growth. The Government has made it clear that, wherever possible, local services to local areas should be delivered by local authorities. With Scottish Enterprise firmly focused on national and regional priorities, it is entirely right that local authorities should assume an enhanced role in local economic development. That approach will allow local authorities and national enterprise network programmes and personnel to come together at the local level to contribute to the single goal of higher sustainable economic growth. I also want to encourage our local authorities to develop effective working relationships with chambers of commerce and local business organisations, to enhance co-operation.
We have looked carefully at the enterprise networks' current functions and identified those truly local activities that should be transferred to local authorities, to enable them to take up a much more significant role in building their local economy. The business gateway is one such function. It provides advice to new-start and local businesses serving mainly local markets, and it is appropriate that that service should be delivered by local authorities, with which those businesses already interact on a range of local issues. The importance of maintaining consistency across the country in business gateway services and standards is well understood, so we will work with local authorities to ensure that that happens. The business gateway is one means of identifying emerging businesses with high growth potential. We will continue to ensure that such businesses are referred to the enterprise networks for further support in their growth. I am pleased to announce that the business gateway will become a service that is available in all parts of the country. In future, it will be offered in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area, as well as in the Scottish Enterprise area, and will be tailored better to meet the needs of rural businesses across Scotland.
Local regeneration activity in the Scottish Enterprise area will also become the responsibility of local authorities. Currently, Scottish Enterprise is engaged in a range of regeneration and economic development-related activities, including land and property interventions. Some of that regeneration activity is very local in nature, with the primary benefit being felt within a local authority area. It makes more sense to take a cohesive approach to local regeneration by placing local authorities at the centre of such activity. For that reason, responsibility for local regeneration will be transferred to local authorities.
Local delivery will also be considered by the new skills body, as it develops its plans to take forward our skills strategy. It is clear that local authorities have an important part to play in developing and maximising the skills of young Scots, in particular. It is important that the activities of the skills body reflect that partnership.
The Government is determined to bring greater cohesion to the availability of business support services at the local level. What matters most is that the people who need to obtain business support services should be able to obtain those services as conveniently as possible. We believe that a package of services—from the business gateway, local authorities and the enterprise network—can be made available conveniently, under the auspices of local authority offices at the local level, and we will encourage the development of such an approach. We expect that the reforms will enable local businesses to reach a single point of access for advice on planning, licensing, business development and other services. That will be a great contrast with the pillar-to-post experience of many businesses today.
Some elements of this announcement will be applied differently in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area. The focus on nationally and regionally significant companies and sectors with growth potential should apply equally to HIE. In the longer term, I want to look at integrating national grant schemes and reviewing the use of small business grants in the HIE area. In the meantime, HIE will continue to operate its own grant schemes in the Highlands and Islands. It will not surprise members to learn that I recognise the strong correlation between thriving communities and economic growth in remote and rural areas. We intend, therefore, that HIE should retain its strengthening communities remit.
In order to retain as much as possible of the local expertise that currently exists in the LEC boards, both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise will establish business-led regional advisory boards. The emphasis will be on securing business involvement and on bringing together representatives from local authorities and the further and higher education sectors. The purpose of the boards will be to provide a vital link between national and regional activity.
There is already a successful national model for business engagement within key sectors, involving advisory bodies that put businesses in the driving seat in the development of strategies for growth. I have no doubt that businesses that are involved in the life sciences or the financial services sector, for example, would be the first to recognise the success of that approach. That success should now be replicated across other key sectors and at a regional level.
Our proposals will maintain meaningful business participation in economic development delivery. Indeed, we aim to increase the number and range of businesses from which the enterprise networks can seek advice and the number and range of businesses that can become involved in the development and promotion of their local area, in line with existing successful models.
I am aware that in many areas there are excellent examples of effective local collaboration between the enterprise networks, local authorities and the business community. The Aberdeen city and shire economic forum is one such example. I make it absolutely clear that where there are strong, effective local partnerships and a strong local identity—whether in Fife, Glasgow, Stirling, Aberdeenshire or elsewhere—those partnerships should continue to operate within the regional model. This Government wants to encourage collaboration between the public, private and voluntary sectors and believes that more local areas, when they see the benefits of such collaboration elsewhere, will choose to adopt a similar approach.
Our proposals for regional delivery will ensure greater coherence between local, regional and national delivery, but will retain sufficient flexibility to encourage local development and initiative. That is as it should be.
The strategy of working proactively with those businesses that can make a real difference to the national or regional economy will be at the heart of the enterprise networks' role. To that end, we will consolidate company support schemes to make it easier for companies to access the full range of business support services. We will charge Scottish Enterprise, initially under joint venture arrangements, with the delivery of national business grants such as regional selective assistance, SMART:Scotland and a range of other business grants.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning recently launched the skills for Scotland strategy and set out her plans to merge Careers Scotland with learndirect Scotland to form the nucleus of a new skills body. Today I can announce that the skills and training elements of the enterprise networks will also be part of that body. Close working between the skills body and the enterprise networks will be essential to deliver the skills that businesses desire. However, the enterprise networks will retain those interventions that are business specific and which form a crucial part of their account management function. Those include leadership development programmes and business mentoring schemes.
Given its statistical and monitoring role, Futureskills Scotland will move into the Scottish Government and will continue to influence the development of strategy in both the enterprise networks and the new skills body.
The proposals that we have set out in this statement will reinvigorate the enterprise networks and re-energise them in making progress towards the goal that they share with Government of delivering increased and sustainable economic growth. They will bring greater integration between our economic development bodies. They will enhance business input and develop local provision of integrated economic and enterprise development services. They strike the right balance between helping Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise focus on where they can make the greatest impact and ensuring that the process of economic growth reaches every community in Scotland. Of greatest significance, they provide a firm foundation on which we can deliver the increase in sustainable economic growth that our country requires.
As I indicated earlier, the cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues that were raised in his statement. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask questions could press their buttons now, and we will endeavour to fit in as many members as possible; that will obviously depend on the length of the questions and, indeed, of the answers.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. I am glad that he began by recognising some significant—indeed, world-class—successes of Scotland's economic development strategy, such as the proof of concept fund. I was intrigued when he said that some of the recent criticism of Scottish Enterprise was justified, while some of it was not. I wondered whose criticism he thought was justified and whose was not. I presume that his own criticism falls into the first category, but I wonder whether Mr Neil's criticisms, for example, fall into the other category.
Today Mr Swinney came to the Parliament not to praise Scottish Enterprise but to bury it—or, at least, to dismember it radically—or so we had been led to believe. The Scottish National Party manifesto said clearly:
"We will … consult on proposals to transfer responsibility for local enterprise delivery to existing local authority Economic Development Departments."
The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism confirmed what that meant when he said to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee:
"We have a strong aspiration for the LECs to be merged with local government."—[Official Report, Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, 27 June 2007; c 16-17.]
What, then, is the cabinet secretary's reasoning for moving away from that commitment and aspiration? Does he really consider a single meeting of 100 stakeholders to be a complete, rounded and comprehensive consultation on such an important issue? What consultation has been undertaken with stakeholders in the tourism industry, given that the cabinet secretary has announced today a change to the operation of VisitScotland, as part of the centralisation of the enterprise network into regions? Finally, what are the Government's plans for inward investment and Scottish Development International, which is a joint venture between the Executive and Scottish Enterprise that is responsible for Scotland leading the United Kingdom in inward investment, especially in research and development projects?
I suspect that if I had come here and argued for the entire transfer of all the functions of local enterprise companies to local authorities, Mr Gray would have argued against it, since he argued against it during the election campaign. It is a curious way to go about taking the debate forward.
We will transfer significant functions from local enterprise companies to local authorities. We have taken steps to ensure that we will have the ability at the local level to draw together all aspects of local enterprise development services—ideally, at a one-stop, single access point—which will give businesses access to services on a much easier and more straightforward basis than has been the case at any time during the past eight years, when the previous Administration was in post. We should not underestimate the significance of simplifying the structure for the businesses in question.
We have been involved in a number of discussions with the tourism sector on the way forward for the industry. The Government has, as I said, every confidence in VisitScotland. Mr Mather has taken forward consultation with the tourism sector, which is reflected in today's statement.
On Mr Gray's final point, Scottish Development International has a successful track record in attracting foreign direct investment to Scotland. I pay tribute to the work that has been done in that respect. It will continue as a joint venture with the Scottish Government. We will work closely with Scottish Development International as part of the Government's overall strategy for ensuring that all the international contacts that we make impact beneficially on the Scottish economy's prospects.
I, too, thank the cabinet secretary for his statement. I note in passing the striking similarities between it and the reform package for Scottish Enterprise that was in the Conservative manifesto. It will not be a great surprise, therefore, that I congratulate this Government on having the guts to do what the previous Government singularly failed to do, which is to reform and slim down Scottish Enterprise.
I have, though, some questions on the detail of the reforms. How much will the reforms save? Where will the savings go? When will the reforms be implemented? In addition, on those functions that will be devolved to local authorities, what flexibility will local authorities have to determine what is delivered locally and how?
I thank Mr Brownlee for his remarks—I suppose I should be generous, after what he said I cannot give him a definitive figure today on how much the package of measures will save. We will work to ensure that, through taking steps to improve efficiency and clarity of structure in the delivery of services, we leverage out other resources that can be invested in supporting frontline economic and enterprise development. The Government will, as with all its plans, come back to Parliament with the exact manifestation of how that will take its course.
We will work towards implementing the reforms in advance of the start of the next financial year, in 2008. We are working with various stakeholders to achieve that timescale for implementation.
I emphasise what I said in my statement about the role of local authorities. I visited 18 local authorities around Scotland over the summer and, on each occasion, I held a discussion with representatives of the public, private and voluntary sectors. I came across some excellent examples of joint working between local authorities, the enterprise team and the local business community, often involving chambers of commerce. I witnessed the whole powerful process of drawing people together and focusing on the objective of improving the economic prospects of a local area. We will encourage people in local authorities to work in that fashion to draw together all that activity.
I thank Mr Swinney for the copy of his statement. I was a bit surprised that there was nothing in this morning's press that I could compare it with, but I could contrast it with what was in the Sunday newspapers, so rather than thanking the Conservatives I thank Scotland on Sunday for the advance copy of the statement.
Mr Swinney is today abolishing 21 local enterprise companies. Why are businessmen and businesswomen who have given depth, local direction and expertise to LEC boards to be arbitrarily dismissed? Will they not feel further aggrieved when the details of Mr Swinney's arrangements become clearer? Will Mr Swinney confirm that, rather than decluttering, he has announced to Parliament a Scottish Enterprise board; a Highlands and Islands Enterprise board; a national enterprise forum; five regional boards in the Scottish Enterprise area; two regional advisory boards; six industry sector boards; and three partnership boards—for Fife, Glasgow and Stirling—and that he has invited all 32 local authorities to have a further partnership board on top of that? Will he confirm that, instead of 21 local enterprise companies, he is creating 48 new national, regional or sub-regional boards? Has not less become more?
Why is the SNP abolishing all local enterprise companies in the Highlands and Islands, so that decisions will be taken not in Mr Mather's constituency or mine but in Inverness? Are VisitScotland area offices being swept away, so that accountability is not to local partners but to bean counters in Edinburgh?
Will the minister confirm whether one-to-one business advice for men and women starting up new businesses will be available to non-VAT-registered businesses? Who will assist the vast majority of small Scottish businesses, among which are small and social enterprises, that have the least staff time and resources and are therefore most likely to need support?
Why are council officers now to be the drivers of the nation's economic future? Does Mr Swinney accept that, far from decluttering, he has announced an economic development structure based on centralisation?
The only thing that is cluttered is that question.
It is obvious that Mr Scott was not paying the careful attention to the detail of the statement that I would normally expect from him. The Government has brought forward a range of measures that will abolish local enterprise companies and local enterprise forums and replace them with a sharply reduced number of business advisory boards.
We want to ensure that we guarantee business participation in and input into the formulation of enterprise development policy that is much more focused than it was in the past, which is exactly what I have announced today.
Mr Scott asks why we have abolished local enterprise companies. Given his experience in government, I would have thought that he would understand the complex burdens on local enterprise companies as stand-alone companies in terms of audit, management responsibilities and financial reporting responsibilities. Time spent on that tremendous burden could be spent supporting businesses and their development in Scotland. That is at the heart of what we are saying.
Mr Scott asks about one-to-one business advice at local level. Of course there will be such advice. He asks about social enterprises. One of the announcements that I took the greatest pleasure in making in the past few weeks was the announcement of additional business support for the establishment of social enterprises in Scotland, a sector for which there is tremendous potential. I pay great tribute to the efforts of such enterprises and encourage them to do more.
On local authority involvement, Mr Scott's remarks fly in the face of my experience over the summer. He might have had a different experience around the country, but my experience of local authorities is that many of them are eager to get involved in and to support local economic development. I saw many fine examples of that throughout the country, and I wish to encourage it yet further.
We come to open questions, for which we have exactly 15 minutes. I repeat my plea for members to keep their questions as brief as possible.
I congratulate the cabinet secretary on demonstrating courage and vision, which his immediate Liberal Democrat predecessors as ministers with responsibility for enterprise failed utterly to do. Local businesses will now have much easier access to enterprise support. They will no longer have to go through a revolving door, only to be shoved from pillar to post.
Will the minister strengthen the industry boards? As the former Enterprise and Culture Committee made clear in a report last year, one of the reasons for the success of our competitors is the so-called triple helix—the partnership at national level between the public sector, the private sector and academia.
Yes, one of my objectives in all these reforms is to ensure that businesses have easier access to enterprise development support.
On industry boards, the First Minister, Mr Mather and I took part in a meeting of the financial services advisory board, which we all found helpful in focusing on the issues that are of relevance to the future of the financial services sector. Earlier this week, Jim Mather met the equivalent body for the life sciences sector. We did that to understand and appreciate how the Government can support the efforts of those sectors.
Of course, Mr Neil's point on the integration of the academic and enterprise development sectors is important. That is why, in taking forward the policy areas that are central to the health of the Scottish economy, the Government has established such clear working between me and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
The cabinet secretary announced the creation of six regional enterprise operations, but he also stated that existing local offices and staff will remain in place and that some functions will transfer to local authorities. I assume that appropriate resources will accompany those transfers. What sort of efficiency savings does he expect the reforms to yield?
If local regeneration projects are to be delivered by local authorities, what is the future of the Gretna-Lockerbie-Annan regeneration project, which received £8 million from Scottish Enterprise and which set up a public-private partnership, Katalyst Projects, with Kilmartin Ltd? Will that transfer, somehow, to Dumfries and Galloway Council? If so, will that not involve the unravelling of the arrangement between Scottish Enterprise and Kilmartin, or will it become part of the wider south of Scotland regional operation?
As I said in my response to Derek Brownlee, part of the purpose is to leverage out efficiencies by simplifying the structure of the enterprise network. That is exactly what we have done. Savings will be made in terms of the governance structures of local enterprise companies and through ensuring that a much greater focus is placed on frontline business support in all that we do. As I also said to Derek Brownlee, the quantification of the savings will become clear. I am not in a position to give the figure to the Parliament today.
On the Gretna-Lockerbie-Annan regeneration project—if I caught all the names correctly—I cannot give the member a definitive answer today; I do not know the project's stage of development. However, under the new arrangements, we expect local authorities to undertake the local regeneration function. Clearly, there will have to be a transfer of resources to make that happen.
I welcome the enhanced role that Fife Council will be given in regeneration and local economic development. The SNP-led council in Fife will want to build on the very low level of business start-up in the kingdom.
In his statement, the cabinet secretary recognised the importance of Fife energy park in Methil in my constituency. Does he agree that it is imperative for the Levenmouth and wider Fife economies that the regional board continues to promote the Fife energy park as a centre for excellence in renewable energy? Will he encourage the relocation to Fife of the Scottish Enterprise staff who are responsible for renewable energy?
As Tricia Marwick knows, I visited Fife energy park over the summer. It is an example of a project that emerged from the views and ambitions that were held by people within the kingdom of Fife and which was then approved by the Scottish Enterprise board. Under the arrangements that I have set out today, a proposal of a similar nature would emerge in exactly the same way in future.
It is common sense that Fife energy park should be a central part of the regional board for east central Scotland. The park is an asset and it offers opportunities and prospects for further economic development around Methil and Levenmouth. I encourage that.
I have said that we expect more Scottish Enterprise staff to be working in various localities rather than in the centre. That will be the direction that we give to Scottish Enterprise.
How will the cabinet secretary's public sector pay policy be applied to the pay levels of the most senior staff at Scottish Enterprise, bearing in mind that the previous chief executive's salary was increased to take account of new responsibilities—responsibilities that are now to be removed? The two most senior people at Scottish Enterprise currently have an overall remuneration package of £398,000. In light of the announcement of changes to Scottish Enterprise's remit, will it not be appropriate for the cabinet secretary to review remuneration packages, or else explain to Parliament how they can be justified?
Obviously, I inherited many such issues from the previous Administration. We have a process to go through in relation to the organisation and operation of all the bodies. When the time is right, further information will, if required, be given to Parliament on any specific arrangements that follow from the announcements in principle that I have made to Parliament today.
A number of speakers have thanked the cabinet secretary for advance notice of his speech; I would like to thank Murdo Fraser for writing the cabinet secretary's speech.
I like much of what the cabinet secretary said about the business gateway being delivered by local authorities. Businesses interact with local authorities, and I like the idea of a one-stop shop. However, a paragraph later, we heard about consistency throughout Scotland. We will work with the cabinet secretary to ensure that that consistency exists.
Will he be more specific about the level of autonomy and flexibility that is to be given to local authorities, and can he guarantee that there will be an absolute minimum of top-down ring fencing?
I would never, ever, allow Murdo Fraser to write one of my speeches—which might account for the electoral history of the North Tayside constituency, if I may be so indelicate.
As I said in my statement, I want local authorities to be fully involved in local development, because we have a great opportunity to join up the different service elements. My statement was clearly about ensuring that we have much more local discretion and involvement. That will come about through the way in which the enterprise structures develop.
The business gateway operates in an established fashion. Obviously, local authorities will work within that context.
Nothing that the cabinet secretary has said this afternoon will dispel the feeling of people in the Highlands and Islands that they are being caught in the backwash of a centralisation process that is being urged on the Government by some within Scottish Enterprise and, indeed, by the Scottish Tories. People in the Highlands and Islands have been presented with the interesting concept of energising bodies by abolishing them.
What guarantees will the cabinet secretary provide that the responsibilities that he reallocates to local authorities will be adequately resourced? He will be aware from his visit to Orkney of concerns that already exist.
The cabinet secretary referred to the co-location of LEC and local authority staff. How will that be incentivised, and what funding will be available for it?
If I am not mistaken—Mr McArthur can correct me if I am wrong, and I will correct the record if I am wrong—I am pretty certain that existing LEC staff in Orkney are in the process of co-locating with the Orkney Islands Council staff who are involved in economic development, which suggests that in Orkney there is a pragmatic way of operating. That strikes me as a straightforward way of proceeding.
The important point to make is that, as a result of the decisions taken by the Government, we have an opportunity to bring services together and to operate them in an integrated fashion. I am pretty sure that that approach will strike a chord with the many individual businesses that have spoken to me over the years about their difficulty in accessing services or obtaining clarity about accessing services.
I warmly welcome the cabinet secretary's statement, and particularly his comments about reduced bureaucracy and more local area working. As the cabinet secretary is aware, the island areas of my constituency are covered by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. How will the focus of HIE be enhanced in that regard? What, if anything, will happen to grant schemes in the HIE area?
As Mr Gibson will be aware from my statement, I have made some comments on the record about the grant arrangements. Although we will consider how best to develop those arrangements in the Highlands and Islands, the existing arrangements will continue at this time. Obviously, this announcement will give HIE the opportunity to focus effectively on supporting business and enterprise development, and to encourage that process in all the areas of the Highlands and Islands. From my numerous conversations with Willie Roe, the chairman of HIE, I know of his enthusiasm for the development of greater economic activity within the islands of Scotland. He has made a tremendous contribution to the debate in that respect. We will work closely with HIE to ensure that island communities are able to embark on securing greater prosperity through the new arrangements.
The minister said that careful consideration was given to the new structure and that he wants a cohesive service to maintain consistency. Will the minister tell me how that claim squares with what is going to happen to business gateway services in my constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden? Far from the open-door policy praised by Mr Neil, I have a closed-door policy because, under the proposals, both offices, in Bearsden and Kirkintilloch, will be closed. Kirkintilloch was the busiest and most successful office.
Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire covers three local council areas. How many staff from SE Dunbartonshire will transfer to East Dunbartonshire Council? What steps will the minister take to ensure that there will be a fully staffed business gateway service in Strathkelvin and Bearsden, rather than a virtual office?
I made clear in my statement the importance of drawing services together to ensure that we have an effective presence that people can access in their preferred fashion. That will lie at the heart of how we take forward the enterprise development agenda. I cannot give Mr Whitton the office-by-office account that he is looking for; such issues will become clearer over time. We want to ensure that, at local level, enterprise staff and local authority staff have a clear way of working that allows them to work effectively together. I would have thought that such an approach would be widely welcomed throughout the chamber.
The SNP promised the local authorities in the HIE area that far more powers would be stripped from the enterprise network, but it appears that it has failed to deliver on that promise.
I ask the minister to be clear on the following four points. First, from now on, will the local authorities in the HIE area have fewer duties in relation to regeneration than those in the remainder of Scotland? Secondly, will he clarify whether the Moray Council area is to be taken out of the HIE area and put in the new Grampian region?
Thirdly, in relation to national and small business grants, is the minister signalling that he intends to reduce HIE's current freedoms through the proposed review of those grants in the HIE area? Finally, will he confirm that he is stripping HIE of its functions in relation to wider skills and training, as he is doing to Scottish Enterprise?
I will answer Peter Peacock's four questions. In relation to local authority functions, there will be a clear benefit to the Highland Council area as a result of the measures that I am announcing.
Secondly, Moray Council will remain within the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area.
Thirdly, we will consider how to integrate some of the small grant schemes. We are not announcing that today; we are simply announcing the fact that we will examine the issue.
On the skills agenda, as I set out in the statement, there are further discussions to be had on local skills delivery. Those issues will be taken forward by my Cabinet colleague, Fiona Hyslop.