B Grant, Chamber of Commerce; Councillors Glen and Lawson; S Graham, Engage Renfrewshire; M Crearie, A Morrison and R Cooper (all Renfrewshire Council); I McLean, Renfrewshire Forum for Empowering our Communities; M Gilligan, Skills Development Scotland; M Dunn, University of the West of Scotland; and A Dick, West College Scotland; and J Binning, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

S Clocherty and H Cunningham (both Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership); J Burns, DWP; and N Shields, Scottish Enterprise.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Jobs & the Economy Thematic Board held on 1 June 2016.

DECIDED:  That the Minute be noted.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.

DECIDED:  

(a)   That the updates be noted; and

(b)   That the Rolling Action Log be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Economic Development Manager, West College Scotland relative to an Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund.

The report advised that the Scottish Government launched an £12m Oil &Gas Transition Training Fund in February 2016 to help maintain the highly skilled energy workforce in the North Sea region by offering training and grants to individuals to support their redeployment through retraining or further education. West College Scotland had successfully secured funding from the fund to deliver a number of courses to retrain and upskill individuals impacted by the downturn in the Oil &Gas sector or its supply chain.

DECIDED:  

(a)   That the report be noted; and

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services, Renfrewshire Council relative to Business Gateway delivery model and business birth and death rates.

The report advised that Renfrewshire Council managed the delivery of the Business Gateway contract across the wider Renfrewshire area (incorporating East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde). A steering group comprising of senior officers from each local authority was in place to oversee the delivery of the contract.

Over the past two years a significant number of local authorities had moved to an in-house delivery model for Business Gateway and on 2 September 2015 at the Economy & Jobs Policy Board it was agreed that the Director of Development and Housing Services would undertake an options appraisal to consider the most appropriate delivery model for the future Business Gateway services and that the existing Business Gateway contract would continue for up to a further 1−year period to 30 September 2016.

The report detailed the recommendations of the appraisal and outlined the proposed model for the future delivery of the local Business Gateway services beyond the current contract.  The report also provided the most recent annual figures for the Business Birth and Death rates for Renfrewshire and Scotland.

DECIDED:

(a)   That it be noted that the Business Gateway Service will be delivered separately and in-house by the three local authorities from 1 October 2016; and

(b)   That the annual figures for the Business Birth and Death rates be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive, Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce relative to the results of a post EU Referendum Survey by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

The report advised that on 1 September 2016, Scottish Chambers of Commerce published the results of their fourth survey of business opinion in relation to the EU Referendum and the first post-result. The survey was carried out online between 25 July 2016 and 15 August 2016.   A total of 677 responses were received with 50 responses from Renfrewshire based companies.   It was noted that the fieldwork was undertaken by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce Network.  A copy of the survey was attached as an appendix.

DECIDED:   That the report be noted.

A verbal update was given by the Chief Executive of Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce on the recent activities of the Chamber. It was noted that:

-  A Business Forum was held last week for small and medium sized companies to develop an independent voice for City Deal and 2021.

-  The Westminster Work & Pensions Committee would visit Renfrewshire to gather evidence for their inquiry into employment support and opportunities for young people.

-  The Skills Ambassador Programme, which would provide group business mentoring in every secondary school – targeting the most vulnerable young people, was progressing well.  It was noted that 27 business people had been recruited and Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce would be meeting with the schools shortly.

-  The Skill STEM fortnight would take place the first two weeks in October which would see large employers opening their doors to 500+ school pupils for inspiring hands on activities.

-  The ROCCO annual business awards ceremony would take place on Friday 18 November in the Normandy Hotel.  The ROCCOs allowed local businesses and organisations of all sizes and sectors to enter a wide range of award categories with the winners being announced on stage at the awards ceremony.  It was noted that the ROCCOs were the largest business event in Renfrewshire and genuinely perceived as one of the top corporate events in Scotland and was used as a platform to encourage businesses around the 2021 theme.

There was submitted a report by the Location Director, Scottish Enterprise which provided an update on activity within Renfrewshire businesses for financial year 2015/16.

The report advised that Scottish Enterprise worked across the 27 local authority areas of lowland Scotland, including Renfrewshire and contributed to Scotland’s long term economic growth by helping companies to compete; to support globally competitive sectors; attract new investors; and create an open and responsive business environment. They aimed to ensure that assets and companies were as internationally competitive as possible by being outward looking and focused on innovation, investment, and inclusive growth.

DECIDED:   

(a)   That the report be noted; and

(b)   That it be agreed that a progress report would be submitted to the Board in 12 months.

There was submitted a report by the Head of Regeneration, Renfrewshire Council relative to an update on some of the key regeneration initiatives which were currently underway or planned within Renfrewshire.

The report advised that the new Renfrewshire Economic Framework, which had been presented to the Board in June 2016, emphasised the importance of economic and social regeneration to the future of Renfrewshire. Over a number of years the Council along with its community planning partners, the private and third sectors had planned and undertaken a wide variety of regeneration initiatives to support local communities and boost the local economy. The report drew out some of the current initiatives and future plans that the Council aimed to co-ordinate the delivery of in the next few years.

DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services, Renfrewshire Council which provided detail on the three year progress for the Greener Renfrewshire element of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan.

The report indicated that Renfrewshire’s Community Planning Partnership was established to deliver positive change for Renfrewshire and had a number of interconnected workstreams with associated performance measures allowing for full and transparent scrutiny to ensure resources were best allocated, progress was on target and that the agreed priorities clearly reflected the changing social, political and economic environment.

The report highlighted the progress of the Jobs and the Economy Thematic Board against the agreed performance measures; drew attention to areas of achievement; indicated areas where additional work was required; considered what work was being progressed by the Jobs and the Economy Board to prevent poverty and inequality as well as responsive and remedial work; and provided the Board with an opportunity to consider any changes to impact measures.

Discussion took place on the impact measures and it was agreed that there would be a change to the way they measured the following targets:- 

- Reduction in the number of 16-19 year olds who were unemployed seeking work; and 

- Reduction in the vacant retail space in Paisley Town Centre

It was also agreed that the target “Increase the footfall in Paisley Town Centre” would have an additional two sources of information to be added.

DECIDED:

(a)   That the year 3 progress of impact measures against targets be noted;

(b)   That the revisions to the LOIP as outlined within the report be agreed; and

(c)   That the changes to the Impact Measures be agreed and

There was submitted a report by the Head of Regeneration, Renfrewshire Council which provided a brief summary of some of the data that had been captured during the preparation of the new Renfrewshire Economic Framework and the new Regional Economic Strategy for the Glasgow City Region.

There was submitted a newsletter by Economic Development which provided an overview of employment activity and economic development in Renfrewshire ON 16 August 2016. The newsletter illustrated the Renfrewshire labour market position and advised how Renfrewshire fared in comparison to the rest of the country. It also included a brief summary of the progress made to date by the Council’s Invest in Renfrewshire Programme and Business Gateway Programme and provided information on wider economic development activity across Renfrewshire.

DECIDED: That the newsletter be noted.

There was submitted a proposed timetable for meetings of the Safer & Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board for the period January 2017 to June 2017.

DECIDED:  That the timetable of meetings until June 2017 be approved.