August
Minutes of Scottish Enterprise Board : 6 August 2004
Present
Sir John Ward CBE, Chairman
Jack Perry, Chief Executive
Frank Blin CBE
Barbara Duffner OBE
Fred Hallsworth
Douglas Lamb
Donald MacRae
Colin McClatchie
Charlie Morrison
Ray Perman
Ian Ritchie CBE
Apologies
Pat Denzler
LEC chair
Colin Birrell, SE Dumfries and Galloway
Amanda Boyle, SE Tayside
In attendance
Roger McClure, Scottish Funding Councils
Andrew Downie, Director Finance (deputising for Iain Carmichael)
Bill Morton, Senior Director Operations
John Phillips, Senior Director HR
Charlie Woods, Senior Director Knowledge Management
Brian Jamieson, SE Secretary
Minutes of board meeting held on 2 July 2004 – SE(M)169
The minutes of the previous Meeting were approved.
Chairman’s report
The Chairman welcomed Fred Hallsworth, Douglas Lamb and Donald MacRae to their first Board Meeting.
As an Induction process, Charlie Woods had met each new Member individually and the Chairman was now doing so. A session was being held with the Executive Board on 17 August to which all Board Members were welcome. The next Board Meeting on 3 September would continue into the afternoon.
The December Board Meeting would be moved to 17 December to avoid a clash with the International Advisory Board to be held on 1 – 3 December.
The First Minister had offered to involve Cabinet colleagues in the International Advisory Board Meeting.
The Deputy First Minister would hold a working dinner with businesses at Atlantic Quay on 19 August as part of the consultation on refreshing ‘Smart Successful Scotland’. Jack Perry would attend.
The proposed change in status of the Welsh Development Agency and other Welsh public bodies was noted.
Chief Executive’s report
Jack Perry also welcomed the new Board Members. He then reported on:
- His visit to Tokyo and Shanghai where there were differing opportunities for Scotland and Scottish businesses.
- The proposed extension of the work with High Impact companies including Business Mentoring.
- The review of the Strategic Procurement Hub
- The progress on his Change Agenda
- The pay negotiations with Unions
- The changes to Network Groups on policy issues to accelerate the annual planning process
- The EC decision that the revised Project ATLAS is state aid compliant
- The Intermediary Technology Institutes which have 145 membership applications. ITI Life Sciences had published their first Market Report with another due this month. ITI Energy Market Intelligence reports are due in September and October
- Progress at Pacific Quay
Biosynergy (Europe) ltd – inward investment – SE(04)123
Paul Lewis and Gillian Alexander, SE Edinburgh and Lothian, joined the Meeting for this item.
Gillian Alexander outlined the project background and objectives. It was confirmed that active marketing continued internationally for the BioCampus.
The Board approved the paper and asked that it be reported back 1) when the company’s funding package is completed and the due diligence satisfactorily concluded and 2) when results are obtained from a trawl of venture capital companies which may have candidate occupiers for the BioCampus.
A SE strategy for Scotland’s energy industry to 2010 – SE(04)124
Jennifer Craw and Brian Nixon, SE Grampian, joined the Meeting for this item.
Jennifer Craw gave an overview of the energy market and the supply mix. The Oil and Gas industry was still a very important sector of the Scottish economy – 2000 businesses, 85,000 jobs and 17 per cent of GDP.
Brian Nixon used the Energy Industry map to set out a role for SE, resulting in the benefits outlined in the paper.
The Board welcomed the paper and endorsed its strategic view. More work was requested on milestones of achievements. Measures other than jobs, such as capital investment, may be considered. A tactical plan will be required in addition to the strategic view. A date should be set for these to be brought back to the Board.
“Smart Successful Scotland” refresh – SE(04)125
Jane Morgan, Scottish Executive and Ed Payne, Knowledge Management, joined the Meeting.
Charlie Woods introduced this, the third discussion on the topic, explaining that the paper attempted to distil the points made to date. He introduced Jane Morgan, the Head of SE’s Sponsoring Department, who is leading the review within the Scottish Executive.
Jane Morgan presented the process being undertaken and emerging views from others in the Executive and from outside.
The programme indicated that publication would now be in October.
The Framework for Economic Development in Scotland (FEDS) was also being refreshed by the Scottish Executive.
The Board discussion proposed a clearer statement of the problem to be addressed, a focus on benchmarking and greater clarity on the dependencies.
Annual accounts – SE(04)126
Andy Downie updated the Board on the two principal issues awaiting resolution as set out in the covering paper.
Questions were raised on the presentation of employment costs, staff numbers and cash balances.
The Board approved the Accounts as drafted and delegated finalisation to the Audit Committee Chairman.
Information security update
Christine Campbell, ICT, joined the Meeting to present a six-monthly update on progress with the Information Security Action Plan.
The Board thanked Christine for the presentation and noted the progress made.
Information papers
The Board noted the following papers for Information:
Performance Update – Period 3 – SE(04)127
Equal Opportunities Update – SE(04)128
Audit Committee Minutes – 16 June 04 – SE(04)129
Remuneration Committee Minutes – 22 June 04 – MP(04)01
Monthly Update – International Operations – SE(04)130
Monthly Update – Customer Relations – SE(04)131
Monthly Update – Network Operations – SE(04)132
Monthly Update – Competitive Business and Clusters – SE(04)133
Monthly Update – Skills and Learning – SE(04)134
Finance Report – SE(04)135
Briefing on Global, UK and Scottish Economic Trends – SE(04)136
Approvals within Delegated Authority – SE(04)137
Outstanding Action Points from SE Board – SE(04)138
Calendar of Forward Events – SE(04)139
The Board requested that in future the Performance Update and Finance Report papers are scheduled as items for discussion. Both papers should contain a commentary on significant variances.
Brian Jamieson
S.E. Secretary
August 2004