July
Minutes of Scottish Enterprise Board: 4 July 2003
Present:
Sir Ian Robinson, Chairman
Professor Neil Hood CBE, Deputy Chairman
Robert Crawford, Chief Executive
Campbell Christie CBE
Barbara Duffner OBE
Eric Hagman CBE
Janet Lowe CBE
Charlie Morrison
Ian Ritchie CBE
Apologies:
Frank Blin CBE
LEC Chairs:
Fred Bowden, SE Fife
Neil MacDonald, SE Lanarkshire
In Attendance:
Roger McClure, Scottish Funding Councils
Iain Carmichael, Senior Director Finance
Graham McKee, Senior Director Operations
Charlie Woods, Senior Director Knowledge Management
Brian Jamieson, SE Secretary
Minutes of the board meeting held on 6 June 2003 – SE(M)156
The Minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Chairman's report
The Chairman welcomed Fred Bowden and Neil MacDonald to their first Meeting as the LEC Chairs attending Board Meetings for the current year.
Congratulations were recorded to Eric Hagman on his award of the CBE in the Honours List.
The public launch of the Network Operating Plan for the current year had been held.
The International Advisory Board had its second meeting attended by twelve very senior business figures. The Minister had attended the Board Dinner. The input from the IAB had been both constructive and challenging. The next Meeting would be in December.
The Network Board Members Conference had been scheduled to follow the IAB. This had been a successful coupling and would be repeated. The line-up of speakers had been outstanding and the feedback was very positive. The Minister had spoken at the close of the Conference. George Watkins was thanked for his organisation of the Conference.
The LEC Chairs Meeting on the previous evening had covered a wide range of topics including input from a sub-group of LEC Chairs to the Strategic Guidance item on this Meeting’s Agenda.
Chief Executive's report
On Pacific Quay, an imminent letter is expected from Scottish Executive confirming approval of all statutory consents to the Finnieston Bridge. The Master Plan review will be completed within four weeks and then submitted to the Local Authority.
On the Scottish Co-Investment Fund, the bulk of the £20 million is now committed.
St Andrew's World Class – SE(03)121
Darnley Business Village - Phase 1 – SE(03)122
Broadband Incentive Scheme – SE(03)123
Investment Readiness Scheme – SE(02)124
DTI Fund – RAN, Scottish Borders – SE(03)138
The Board accepted the recommendations of the Board Approvals Committee to approve these papers.
Annual Accounts - feedback from Audit Committee
Eric Hagman, Audit Committee Chairman, reported on the Audit Scotland feedback on the Annual Accounts and their ongoing work on matters referred to them.
The draft Accounts would be circulated when available prior to sign off in August.
Strategic guidance for 2004/05 – 2006/07
Julian Taylor, Knowledge Management, joined the Meeting for this item.
Charlie Woods summarised the input from the previous Board Meeting which had been echoed at last month’s two Conferences.
In order to bring a dimension to the challenge, the gaps between Scotland and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) as a whole for a range of measures was illustrated. From this, a set of priorities under each of the three objectives in ‘Smart Successful Scotland’ was proposed.
It was agreed that, while the direction of the existing strategy remained valid, there was the opportunity to increase focus.
It would be helpful to have a breakdown of the £125 million Skills budget between discretionary and non-discretionary. This would be circulated separately to Board Members.
Customer Intelligence from Corporate Scotland – SE(03)125
Linda McDowall, Relationship Management, joined the Meeting to present the emerging issues and customer feedback from her team’s work.
The Board recognised that much progress had been made in this area. It was important to record examples of where the Network had helped major companies.
Clyde Waterfront – SE(03)126
Jim McIntyre and Steven McGarva, Competitive Place, joined the Meeting to present an update on this work since the January Meeting.
Scottish Enterprise had been asked by the Minister to chair the Working Group to produce a Vision, a Framework for Action and Delivery Options. This was now ready to present to the Minister.
The Board approved the way forward as set out in the paper, leading to an investment paper coming to the November Board.
UK Offsets – SE(03)127
Brian Shaw and Tom Lamb, Scottish Development International, joined the Meeting for this item.
Tom Lamb presented the implications for Scottish companies of the offset regime around the themes of:
- Capacity Building;
- Knowledge In;
- Knowledge Out; and
- Relationship Building.
The Chief Executive undertook to examine the extent of capability within Scottish companies to take advantage of these opportunities.
Financial Services opportunities for Scotland
Brian Shaw presented the SDI perspective in this area highlighting:
- the size and importance of the sector;
- its growth and the contribution to the economy;
- its spread of employment across Scotland;
- internal issues in the industry;
- opportunities in the global market; and
- SDI’s targeted activities.
Building Buchan - Local Action Plan – SE(03)128
Jennifer Craw and Bill Chalmers, SE Grampian, joined the Meeting to present a profile of the Buchan area, its industries and companies and the effect of the fishery quotas.
SE Grampian and its partners had sought a clear differentiation among them to lead on different themes in the Action Plan.
The Board endorsed the Plan and awarded it Local Action Plan status.
(Charlie Morrison left the meeting).
SE Broadband Programme - overview – SE(03)129
Charlie Watt, E-business, attended to answer questions on this paper.
Integration of Careers Scotland - segmentation and focus
This item was deferred to a future meeting.
Recruitment of Chief Executive
The process to appoint a Chief Executive was discussed by only the non-Executive SE Board Members present.
Information papers
The Board noted the following Information Papers:
Monthly Update - International Operations – SE(03)130
Monthly Update - Customer Relations – SE(03)131
Monthly Update - Network Operations – SE(03)132
Monthly Update - Skills and Learning – SE(03)133
Finance Report – SE(03)134
A Briefing on Global, UK and Scottish Economic Trends - SE(03)135
Accumulated Reserves – SE(03)136
Calendar of Forward Events – SE(03)137
Brian Jamieson
SE Secretary
July 2003