Agenda item

Partners provided information on work currently being undertaken in respect of the Economy Community Plan Actions.

 

Skills Development Scotland

 

School Leaver Destination Report

 

Anthony Standing referred to the contents of this report which was based on pupils who left school in December 2009 and August 2010.  He advised that a follow up survey was currently being compiled and that a copy of the report was available to view on the SDS website.

 

PACE - the Scottish Government’s national strategic partnership framework for responding to redundancy situations. Skills Development Scotland leads PACE at a national level, facilitating local response teams to provide tailored help and support for individuals at risk of, or experiencing, redundancy.

 

Frances Webster advised that SDS were currently working very closely with Argyll and Bute Council to support people whose lives will change as a result of cuts to the Council’s budget and referred to workshops which will be delivered to staff facing redundancy.  Frances also advised that they were working with staff of Machrie Hotel on Islay and they were working closely with Job Centre Plus to map where small business are and that a PACE report was being worked on which will show which sectors are most affected by the current economic climate.  It was noted that they were also working with Skycon to pull together a workforce profile to see what the workforce had to offer in terms of skills.

 

Scottish Tourism Week

 

Anthony advised that SDS, Job Centre Plus and Springboard were working together for Scottish Tourism Week and were hosting an event in the Soroba House Hotel, Oban on 1 March 2011.

 

LANTRA

 

Anthony referred to LANTRA which was hosting events for organisations on how land based centres work.

 

Service Delivery Agreement

 

Anthony advised that he was working with Ishabel Bremner on this and that a workshop was being held in March 2011.

 

Argyll and Bute Council

 

Business Gateway

 

Ishabel reported that ongoing year to date (YTD) delivery with regard to start-up and existing businesses supported was as follows:

 

·        start-up businesses supported – actual of 134 YTD against an annual target of 150:

 

Ø      with 60 starts supported YTD in Helensburgh and Lomond the annual target of 56 has already been exceeded;

Ø      for the remaining areas within Argyll and Bute, 74 starts have been supported YTD against an annual target of 94; and

 

·        existing businesses supported - actual of 269 YTD against an annual target of 225. A significant increase was seen in November and December 2010, due primarily to existing businesses attending the popular e-commerce and website building workshops held in Inveraray, Dunoon and Oban.

 

Business Gateway workshop delivery during the third quarter of 2010/11 was as follows:

 

·              one Awareness Raising Seminar in Oban;

·              10 Business Start-up modules in Oban, Dunoon and Campbeltown;

·              four Practical Book-keeping workshops in Dunoon, Oban, Campbeltown and Inveraray;

·              four HMRC Reduce Your Tax Bill workshops in Dunoon, Oban, Lochgilphead and Campbeltown;

·              three HMRC Self Assessment workshops in Campbeltown, Oban and Inveraray;

·              three Making the Most of Online Trading workshops in Oban, Dunoon and Inveraray;

·              four Build Your Own Business Website workshops in Inveraray, Dunoon and Oban and;

·              lastly an Advanced Web Building workshop was in held in Inveraray for those attendees who attended the Build Your Own Business Website workshop that had gone on to develop their site and needed further guidance.

 

Ishabel advised that overall customer satisfaction is very high. Analysed feedback to November 2010, recorded that 81% of workshop attendees thought the workshops delivered were “excellent” and 18% rated the workshops as “good”.

 

The pilot Competitive Business Growth Programme (CBGP) was soft launched in August and promoted via series of roadshows in September and advertising in December 2010. As a new scheme, it has taken time for awareness to grow. In December 2010 the LEADER Local Action Group approved the request for the pilot’s application deadline to be extended until 30 September 2011, giving more time to promote the pilot and achieve its projected outcomes and evidence based learning. (Fit for Growth is the comparable programme delivered in the Helensburgh and Lomond area).

 

The CBGP Business Networking event took place in Oban on the 2^nd February 2011 (postponed on 8^th December 2010 due to the bad weather) with guest speaker, Fraser Doherty, Superjam. Business Gateway received some very positive feedback from businesses that attended the event such as “I thought the networking event was both informative and inspirational and it was a great opportunity to talk to business people from many different sectors - all of whom share a common goal - to be successful and prosperous in Argyll and contribute to the local economy.” Linda Battison, Oban & Lorn Tourism Association.

 

Business Gateway are also working in conjunction with the  Council’s Procurement Team to hold supplier development events across the Council area during May 2011.  These events will follow on from supplier workshops being held in March 2011 by the Procurement Team involving small groups of suppliers and contractors who are experienced in bidding for work and are able to work with the Procurement Team to identify barriers that exist within the procurement process for local companies.

 

Renewables

 

Ishabel advised that the Renewable Energy Action Plan Executive Summary had been produced and disseminated and had been well received.  She also advised that the first meeting of the Argyll and Bute Renewables Alliance (ABRA) would be held in March 2011.

 

Access Road and Housing at Dunbeg

 

Ishabel advised on progress with this.

 

HIE

 

Skycon

 

Sue Gledhill reported that production continued in order to fulfil current contracts.

 

Argyll Marine Science Park

 

Sue advised that the procurement process was underway to appoint new contractors and it was expected that contractors would be on site in late summer 2011.

 

Mid Argyll Chamber of Commerce

 

Heart of Tourism Alliance

 

Jane MacLeod advised that Mid Argyll Chamber of Commerce were working with the newly formed Heart of Tourism Alliance, a tourism marketing group which was set up from spare cash from the Dalriada Project and that a promotional event would take place on 11 March 2011 hosted by the Mid Argyll Chamber of Commerce.

 

Business Breakfasts

 

Jane also referred to successful business breakfasts they had hosted including one with Mike Russell, MSP and another with Alan Reid, MP, Michael Moore MP and Councillor Alison Hay in which a number of topics were discussed including: burden of employment legislation; increased VAT rate, pensions, renewables, state of the roads and the banking sector.

 

Decision

 

1.             Noted the updates provided by Partners; and

 

2.             Agreed that Skills Development Scotland would give a presentation to the Group in May 2011 covering youth destinations including physical destinations and modern apprenticeships.