Response Template
1. Name of Forum
FORTH VALLEY ECONOMIC FORUM
2. Forum Activity in 2004
 How frequently has the Forum met?
 How is the economic strategy being progressed?
 What role has the Forum had in tracking the business gateway/single entry
point proposals?
 Is the Forum continuing to monitor that there remains no overlap and
duplication in business support services?
 How is the Forum linking to community planning?
Frequency of Meetings
 The Forum meets every two months
Economic strategy
 The strategy has been adopted by all partners and key themes/actions reflected in
community planning partnerships and other local policy documents. There are a
series of joint initiatives underway to implement elements of the strategy being taken
forward at both the regional and local community planning level. In the case of
Falkirk, the strategy is also reflected in the Council’s Corporate and Service Plans
and the Strategic Community Plan.
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The Forum has received detailed presentations from organisations working at the
local level e.g. Falkirk Action Plan (now known as My Future’s in Falkirk) which is the
economic development plan for Falkirk and closely tied to the Community Plan. A
presentation and discussion on The Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park
was used to gain awareness and views of the Forum during the initial phases of
developing the Park Plan to ensure that the consultation draft Plan ties in with the
strategy.
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A key platform for the Strategy was In-work skills development. This was an area
that once the strategy was completed there was no obvious existing regional
partnership to take this forward. The Forum therefore commissioned a major review
which is currently nearing completion and will help lead to the development and
adoption of an Action Plan to improve in-work training and learning to support
economic growth and productivity improvements.
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During the next few months a strategy review process will be carried out to update
the strategy in the light of the refreshed Smart Successful Scotland and the
introduction of the city region agenda.
Tracking Business Gateway proposals
 6 monthly monitoring reports on Business Gateway are presented to the Forum for
consideration. These cover a range of Business Gateway operational matters
including the development of the organisational and delivery structures and
approaches, roles and responsibilities, marketing, and performance. In response, the
Forum has offered advice and guidance on various service delivery issues. The
operational management of Business Gateway is the responsibility of a partnershipbased Business Gateway Management Group which now involves the Area Tourist
Board, as a result of the work of the Forum.
 The Forum also receives a copy of the Business Gateway annual Operating Plan
which sets out the targets and performance measures for the coming year as well as
a review of the previous year including an overview and commentary on performance
against the previous year’s targets.
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In terms of overlap and duplication this is the responsibility of the Business Gateway
Management Group, however, any recommendations or proposals regarding
overlaps and duplication will be addressed and reported to the Forum. In this way the
Forum acts as a sounding board and advisory body to the Management Group. As a
consequence, the Forum has been very effective in formulating an integrated
approach to Business Gateway.
Links with Community Planning
Direct links between the Forum and each individual community planning process have not
been developed to any major extent. One of the reasons cited for this is that LEF and
community planning boundaries are not coterminous, however one Forum member noted
that this was not a major stumbling block to the effective operation of the Forum.
The Forum has focused its efforts on developing the region wide strategy and considering
regionally issues. Because of the joint membership, it has allowed community plans to
provide the detailed action plans required to implement the strategy at local level with the
local authorities providing the direct links between the Forum and community planning. It
has reinforced this process by receiving presentations on the local action plans as noted
above. Further presentations are planned on Stirling and Clackmannanshire within the
next few months as the economic development components of both these community
plans have recently been updated. The purpose of these sessions will be for the Forum
to be made aware of how the regional strategy has been reflected at the local level, the
type of actions being proposed and the monitoring and evaluation plans that have been
established.
In addition there are a number of regional and local partnerships focused on particular
issues relating to the regional strategy and again because of common membership there
are many crossovers and relationships which allow the strategic priorities to be translated
and articulated at local community planning level and through cross-cutting agendas such
as Welfare to Work, In-work skills development and site sand property provision.
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3. Impact
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What has the Forum achieved?
What difference have the above actions made?
The Forum has achieved a number of tasks some have a longer term impact while others are
more obvious short term outputs, in these respects the Forum:

has provided a useful opportunity for discussion of common issues between partners
and for developing an understanding of the different sectoral and geographical
perspectives on economic issues for Forth Valley
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is undertaking a major research exercise to review in-work skills and learning

has submitted a common policy position on the future of regional State Aids

has developed a regional economic development strategy that is now being translated
locally into action plans closely tied into local community planning

has reviewed the provision of business support services and continues to monitor the
work of the Business Gateway Management Group and its Operating Plan

continues to seek ways of improving the provision of services to respond to local needs

helped promote a joined up approach to marketing tourism

supported a joined up approach on New Deal/Training for Work pre-recruitment
initiatives across key sectors (hospitality, care, tourism, construction) which in turn has
helped progress the Welfare to Work agenda, e.g. a number of successful New
Deal/TfW partnerships has resulted, for example Ambition Construction, which leads to a
full 2 year modern apprenticeship in joinery and bricklaying. Jobcentre Plus funds the
initial 6 month ‘off-the-job’ training and SE Forth Valley fund the remaining 18 months,
with employers. In the past year 22 joiners/bricklayers have started adult
apprenticeships in Forth Valley, of which 21 have resulted in final job outcomes (95% job
entry rate)
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helped encourage greater clarity, co-ordination and greater efficiency in the use of
resources
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helped promote the sharing of information and intelligence in order to help joined up
decision making e.g. the annual economic review has been developed through a
partnership model and widely disseminated amongst Forum members.
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4. Partnership Working
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How do you assess the current state of partnership working in the Forum?
Do all partners remain committed?
Does the local business community remain engaged in the process?
In response to these three questions regarding the current state of partnership working in
the Forum, whether partners remain committed and the engagement of the business
community the responses from Forum members include:
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‘generally the LEF is working well and the members appear to be quite committed to
continuing activity’
‘there is a high level of partnership working within the Forum, with most
representatives attending on a regular basis. Local business remains engaged in the
process’
‘strong and effective partnership between local authorities, the Area Tourist Board
and SE Forth Valley. There is still some further work required to get the best out of
the private sector participants’.
‘strong commitment from most partners and excellent level of support from SE Forth
Valley secretariat to ensure the smooth and effective running of the Forum’.
‘effective, good examples of joined up working through Community
Planning/Business Support/Welfare to Work’
‘Yes, all Partners remain committed’
‘the partners remain committed to the Forum and partnership/joint working is
generally good’.
‘partnership working is good’
‘commitment levels vary’
‘local businesses are engaged though more could be done’
This selection of responses from Forum Members indicates that partnership working is
generally effective and commitment from partners is high. There is however, a
recognition that engagement with the business community could be improved. Further
efforts will be made to ensure input from the local business panels, also feeding into
community planning, will be enhanced.
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5. Barriers

What barriers or impediments have the Forum experienced in taking forward its
work?
The major barriers and impediments identified by Forum members include:
 the competing pressures on Forum members and supporting staff who are all busy
people
 some frustrations at ‘centrally driven’, imposed solutions which can conflict with
locally derived solutions
 given the variety of Forum members and their potentially competing views there is
inevitably situations where this can slow progress or mean compromises in particular
areas
 the introduction of the national Business Gateway model was seen as a ‘set back’ to
the development of the local Business Gateway model that had been in place since
April 2000
 there is sense that it takes time to build trust and commitment amongst partners
 there are some areas where community planning has created duplication with the
work of the Forum.
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6. Business Gateway (Scottish Enterprise Area)
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How effective is the reporting to the LEF from the Local Business Services
Forum? (set up under the Business Gateway to improve co-ordination between
service providers.)
How effective is their contribution – and the changes implemented locally
through Business Gateway - to the LEF’s wider goals?
Effectiveness of reporting from the local Business Services Forum, (earlier comments have
covered some of this ground), specific comments from Forum members on this issue include:
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‘good levels of reporting on performance of business gateway. A series of actions either
taken or planned to improve and streamline services’
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‘the Forth Valley Economic Forum has positive working relationships with the local
Business Gateway Management Team. The LEF continues to regard the avoidance of
overlap and duplication with regard to the provision of local business support products
and services as a key contributor to its wider goals. Significant progress to date has
been made’.
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‘seems to be effective’
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‘Business Gateway has a heavy role in delivering the LEF strategy its effectiveness and
efficiency are critical if economic aims are to be achieved’
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7. Next steps
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What does the Forum expect to achieve in the next year?
Future work for the Forum over the coming year is likely to include some, if not all of the
following depending upon availability of resources:
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completion of the in-work skills development research and preparation of action plan
which will then be taken forward by partners
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further monitoring of economic policy issues with appropriate responses being made as
required
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strengthen links and engagement with the business community
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develop the Forum’s lobbying role in relation to key issues which impact on the
economic well-being of the Forth Valley area e.g. EU structural funds and State Aids

developing other aspects of the skills and learning agenda, with the aim of supporting a
more integrated approach to access to services, e.g. One Stop/Outreach services,
targeting more disadvantaged customers, in particular, people claiming Incapacity
Benefit. Jobcentre Plus linkages with Councils, NHS, Careers Scotland, and SE Forth
Valley and employers
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continue to ensure Business Gateway delivers business support products and services
that meet the needs of its customers and that delivery standards/customer satisfaction
levels are maintained
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continue to promote effective joint working involving the LEF partners, where appropriate
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undertake further research in those areas not currently being taken forward by any
existing partnership, one area being - further understanding of local labour markets
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reviewing the regional strategy in the context of Smart Successful Scotland and the City
Region agenda.
SO/MAK 0954
26.01.05
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