May 2008
Minutes of Scottish Enterprise board: 30 May 2008
Held in Roxburghe Hotel, Edinburgh
Present
Sir John Ward CBE, Chairman
Jack Perry, Chief Executive
Pat Denzler
Fred Hallsworth
Charlie Morrison
Donald MacRae
Colin McClatchie
Ray Perman
Barbara Duffner OBE
Sir Timothy O’Shea
Douglas Lamb
In Attendance
Hugh Hall, Chief Financial Officer
Paul Lewis, MD Industries
Julian Taylor, Research & Policy
Lena Wilson, Chief Operating Officer
Brian Jamieson, SE Secretary
Imelda Molloy, Corporate Office
Apologies
Laurence Howells, Interim Chief Executive, Scottish Funding Council
Jim McFarlane, MD Operations
John Phillips, HR & Corporate Information Services
1. Financial services industry – discussion session
The meeting had been held in Edinburgh to coincide with the Global Financial Services Conference. The meeting was joined by John Campbell, Chairman Scottish Financial Enterprise, Industry Chair of Financial Services Advisory Board and Senior Managing Director of State Street, by Owen Kelly, Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, by Danny Cusick, SE’s Head of Financial Services Industry and by John Lutz, General Manager, Managed Business Process Services, IBM.
John Lutz gave a presentation illustrating the transformation of multinational businesses into globally integrated businesses and the impact of rapidly developing technology on the business models for Financial Services Companies. New generations of customers had radically different requirements and expectations, and emerging markets were throwing up new approaches.
In discussion, it was recognised that a number of smaller Scottish technology companies may have solutions which may be saleable to large Financial Services Businesses.
John Lutz was thanked for his stimulating presentation and left the meeting.
The Board discussed current issues facing the Scottish Financial Services Industry with John Campbell and Owen Kelly, also the leadership role Financial Services could play in developing support Industries such as software, and the development of SME’s
John Campbell outlined the development of the Financial Services Advisory Board. It was noted that the First Minister chaired this Board and that SE and the Scottish Financial Enterprise worked closely together. It was suggested that to build on this that a session was scheduled within the International Advisory Board meeting in November, covering the development of the Industry and its leadership role in Scotland.
It was noted that each Priority Industry would come in turn to the Board after a discussion at the Investment Committee. It would be important to validate the relative importance of each in the context of a reduced budget.
2. Minutes of board meeting held on 25 April 2008 se (m)212
The minutes of the previous meeting and the outstanding action points were approved.
3. Chairman’s report
The Chairman congratulated Lena Wilson on her appointment as Chief Executive of SDI.
The office relocation paper was deferred until a more complete picture was available.
The Chairman and Chief Executive had attended a very good IBM conference on Global Markets.
The Remuneration Committee would meet after the Board Meeting on the Executives Board’s performance reviews.
Ministers had approved the new SE Board Members and these would be announced shortly.
The Public Appointments process to appoint a new Chairman next year had commenced. An advertisement would appear shortly.
Advertisements had been placed for the Regional Advisory Board Members and the Nominations Committee would be considering the process for appointments.
4. Chief Executive’s report
Jack Perry also welcomed the appointment of Lena Wilson who had already established her credentials in her acting Chief Executive role.
SE had given evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Economy Energy & Tourism Committee on SE’s restructuring, Business Plan and budget.
(Ray Perman left the meeting)
The Board was updated on Stirling Medical Innovations and on a separate possible investment requiring an urgent approval.
The review of ITI Scotland was being finalised and would come to the Board in the context of all SE’s commercialisation initiatives.
The Board noted the Health and Safety Policy among the Information papers. The Chief Executive as Accountable Officer had signed this off on behalf of SE as an employer. The Board’s responsibility was to monitor that SE’s responsibilities were discharged. Implementation was overseen by a Health and Safety Committee. Risks were escalated as relevant in terms of the Risk Management Policy and the topic was covered in the Internal Audit forward plan.
On Business Infrastructure, a paper would come to the June Board. A robust prioritisation process was underway as the project pipeline exceeded the available project funding. Portfolio disposal targets would also play a part in this exercise.
The Executive Board was carrying out a programme of visits to local offices which had met with a positive response.
5. Finance report; May 2008 – se (08)64
Hugh Hall reported that consolidation and auditing of the accounts was progressing towards the target of end-June. The position remained as stated in the paper.
The expenditure to 16 May reported in the Annex was noted. The categorisation of support costs would be examined and the Zero based budget review would include this area.
6. Committee updates
Operations committee minutes - SEBOC (M)(08)02
Investment committee minutes – SEBIC(M)(08)15
The minutes were noted. Updates had been given to the previous meeting.
8.Information papers
The Board noted the following Information Papers.
| SE Health & Safety Policy 2008 | SE(08)66 |
| Standards Commission For Scotland – Guidance | SE(08)75 |
| Outstanding Action Points from SE Board | SE(08)67 |
| Global, UK and Scottish Economic Commentary | SE(08)68 |
| Monthly Update – Operations | SE(08)69 |
| Monthly Update – Industries | SE(08)70 |
| Monthly Update – SDI | SE(08)71 |
| Approvals within Delegated Authority | SE(08)72 |
| Complaints and Testimonials | SE(08)73 |
| Calendar of Forward Events | SE(08)74 |
Brian Jamieson
SE Secretary
June 2008