Councillors Caldwell, Andy Doig, Provost Hall and Councillors Harte, Holmes, Hood, K MacLaren, Mullin, Nicolson, Paterson and J Sharkey.

Councillor Hood, Depute Convener, presided.

M Crearie, Director of Development & Housing Services; A Morrison, Head of Regeneration and R Cooper, Economic Development Manager (both Development & Housing Services); and V Howie, Finance Business Partner and D Low, Senior Committee Services Officer (both Finance & Resources).

Councillors Cameron, Glen and McCartin.

Councillor Andy Doig declared a financial interest in item 6 of the agenda as his wife was an employee of Renfrewshire Leisure Limited and indicated his intention not to leave the meeting during consideration of the item but that he would not to take part in any discussion or voting thereon.

Councillor Hood intimated that there was an emergency motion by Councillors A Doig and Paterson, in relation to the decision by Pernod Ricard/Chivas to close their operation in Paisley, which had not been included in the notice calling the meeting. Councillor Hood, being of the opinion that the subject matter of the motion, which was dealt with at item 1 below, should be considered by the Policy Board as a matter of urgency, authorised its consideration.

There was submitted an emergency motion by Councillors Andy Doig and Paterson in the following terms:

“This Board notes with regret the decision by Pernod Ricard/Chivas to close their operation in Paisley after such a close association with the town, and the significant contribution which Renfrewshire workers have made to the development of the Chivas brand over decades, and in turn which the company has made to the Renfrewshire economy.

Renfrewshire Council agrees to support the Chivas workforce in every way possible, and welcomes the commitment by the Scottish Government to work with Pernod Ricard/Chivas, the trades unions, and local partners to minimise the local economic impact of closure, and to explore the formation of a multi-agency task force.”

Councillor Hood, seconded by Councillor Mullin, moved as an amendment that the words ‘Renfrewshire Council and’ be inserted before ‘the Scottish Government’ in paragraph 2 of the motion.

In terms of Standing Order 27, the terms of the amendment were accepted as an addition to the motion by the mover and seconder of the motion. The motion as amended was then agreed unanimously.

DECIDED: That this Board notes with regret the decision by Pernod Ricard/Chivas to close their operation in Paisley after such a close association with the town, and the significant contribution which Renfrewshire workers have made to the development of the Chivas brand over decades, and in turn which the company has made to the Renfrewshire economy.

Renfrewshire Council agrees to support the Chivas workforce in every way possible, and welcomes the commitment by Renfrewshire Council and the Scottish Government to work with Pernod Ricard/Chivas, the trades unions, and local partners to minimise the local economic impact of closure, and to explore the formation of a multi-agency task force.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services providing an update of the current European Union (EU) funding to Renfrewshire Council from the 2014/20 EU Structural Funds Programme.

The report highlighted that an application had been made by the Council for additional ERDF resources for Renfrewshire for the further development of business growth services to businesses now that business gateway services had been brought in-house and were not part of a contractual arrangement. The report also advised of concerns that the LEADER programme’s future funding was uncertain. Renfrewshire’s future LEADER funding was deemed to be an indicative allocation which was now under pressure of either being reduced or not sufficiently confirmed to be covered under the UK government’s commitment. Further reports on EU structural funding would be submitted to future meetings of this Policy Board.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Council’s intention to bid for additional ERDF resources for Renfrewshire now that the business gateway contract had moved to an in-house delivery model be approved;

(b) That the concerns, and the action taken, in terms of providing more scrutiny around the EU LEADER programme be noted; and

(c) That the additional security provided through

The Board resolved that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the press and public were present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 4 and 6 of Part I of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Development & Housing Services for the period 1 April to 16 September 2016.

 

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that there had be no budget movements since the last report.

There was submitted a capital budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the period 1 April to 16 September 2016.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the Service Improvement Plan 2016/17 for Development & Housing Services insofar as it related to this Policy Board.

The report detailed key achievements over the period 1 April to 30 September 2016; provided an update on the delivery of the Service Improvement Plan action plan as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report; and assessed service performance in the scorecard of core performance indicators as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report.

DECIDED:

(a) That the progress made on service performance insofar as it related to this Policy Board be noted;

(b) That the progress made on actions and performance in the action plan be noted; and

(c) That it be noted that an out-turn report would be provided to this Policy Board in spring 2017.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the progress of the Community Economic Development (CED) Team and the development of a CED Team Action Plan and related targets.

The report outlined the support the CED Team had given to local organisations and set out the Team’s four key objectives as: to support local areas to identify community needs in order to secure new investment, services and funding; to help community organisations to engage with and benefit from key Council initiatives, developments and funding opportunities; to grow the social enterprise sector; and to support Council services and initiatives to access funding and link with communities.

The CED Team had established related activities and targets for its first year of operation and this would support the key objectives through community engagement and establishing needs; securing funding and investment for new services; advising and assisting Council departments with external funding opportunities; and growing the social enterprise sector.

DECIDED:

(a) That the development and implementation of a CED Team Action Plan be noted; and

(b) That it be agreed that further reports be submitted to this Policy Board to update on progress.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the shortlisting of two of Renfrewshire Council’s projects by the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

The report intimated that the Mossedge Village Project and the Paisley Learning and Cultural Hub had been successful in reaching stage 2 of the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund process and that stage 2 applications were required to be submitted by 28 November 2016.

DECIDED: That the submission of the two applications outlined in the report to Stage 2 of the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund for 2017/18 be approved.

 

 

There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to labour market statistics for Renfrewshire as at 30 September 2016, providing comparisons, where data was available, with Scottish and UK markets and detailing the changes to the Claimant Count which was the measure of the number of people with live claims for the principal reason of being unemployed.

The Renfrewshire Economic Development Newsletter: October 2016 was appended to the report. Renfrewshire’s employment rate continued to be above both the Scottish and UK average with Renfrewshire ranked 17 out of 32 local authorities for employment. The Claimant Count in Renfrewshire stood at 2.5% in September 2016 with an unchanged number of people claiming JSA. The youth unemployment Claimant Count was 4.2% for September 2016 whilst adult unemployment had decreased marginally to 2.7% and the rates for those aged 50+ had remained static.

DECIDED:

(a) That the employment and claimant count figures for September 2016 be noted; and

(b) That the change in reporting to new experimental statistics incorporating the Universal Credit figures be noted.