Skip to main content
Business - Renfrewshire Council
You are in Meetings

Meeting Details

Economy & Jobs Policy Board
18 Mar 2015 - 13:00 to 14:00
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Agenda
Notification
Committee Members
Standard Items
Further Information
This is a meeting which is open to members of the public. 

A copy of the agenda and reports for this meeting will be available for inspection prior to the meeting at the Customer Service Centre, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley and online at www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/agendas. 

For further information, contact
democratic-services@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

Members of the Press and Public
Members of the press and public wishing to attend the meeting should report to the customer service centre where they will be met and directed to the meeting.
CHAIR
Councillor Glen, Convener, presided.
Items Of Business
Apologies
Apologies received from members of the Board.
Councillors Cameron and Harte.
Declarations of Interest
Members are asked to declare an interest in any item(s) on the agenda and to provide a brief explanation of the nature of the interest.
There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
Joint report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Development & Housing Services.
1
There was submitted a joint Revenue Budget Monitoring report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Development & Housing Services relative to economic development for the period 1st April, 2014 to 2nd January, 2015.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that there had been budget adjustments of £4,916 processed since the last report related to the realignment of Non Domestic Rates budgets.
Report by the Director of Finance & Resources
2
There was submitted a Capital Budget Monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources relative to Housing & Development Services (Paisley Town Centre Regeneration) for the period 1st April, 2014 to 2nd January, 2015.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.


SEDERUNT

Councillor McCartin entered the meeting during consideration of the following item.
Presentation and report by the Director of Development & Housing Services.
3
Under reference to item 7 of page 222 of the Minute of the meeting of this Board held on 19th November, 2014 there was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the European Structural Fund (EFS) Programmes and outlining the Council’s intention to apply for funds to deliver employability programmes during 2015/18.

The Economic Development Manager delivered a presentation explaining the Renfrewshire Employability Pipeline (combining EU and non-EU programmes) designed to meet poverty and social inclusion requirements and ensure that targetted unemployed young people and adults received individual tailored support to help them back into work.

The report highlighted that following acceptance of the full notional offer of EU grant of £3.77 million to deliver the employability pipeline, an additional notional offer of £2.1 million to deliver Youth Employment Initiative activities during 2015/18 had been accepted by the Director of Development & Housing Services.

The report set out the activities to be delivered by the Invest in Renfrewshire Employability Service during 2015/18, the Renfrewshire Delivery Model and outlined proposed expenditure on each activity over the period.



DECIDED:

(a) That, acceptance by the Director of Development & Housing Services of the full notional offer of £2.1 million from the ESF for the delivery of the Youth Employment Initiative in Renfrewshire, be homologated;

(b) That the Director of Development & Housing Services be authorised to develop a range of employability proposals and applications to draw down the offers of grant of £3.77 million (Employability Pipeline and Poverty and Social Inclusion ESF) and £2.1 million (Youth Employment Initiative ESF) as detailed within the report;

(c) That it be agreed to increase the age group for “youths” from 24 to 29 in line with EU funding and that all current youth programmes be made available to those under 30 years of age; and

(d) That it be noted that regular reports would be submitted to this Board on the activity funded by this programme.
Report by the Director of Development & Housing Services.
4
There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to labour market statistics for Renfrewshire, as at January 2015 and providing comparisons, where data was available, with Scottish and UK markets.

The report also included business birth and death rates as at November 2014 that showed a positive trend in Renfrewshire with more business births than deaths in every year during the period 2009/13.

The percentage of Job Seeker Allowance (JSA) claimants in Renfrewshire had fallen from 4.1% in January 2014 to 2.9% in January 2015. Youth unemployment had fallen from 7.4% in January 2014 to 4.1% currently. Since January 2014, JSA rates over all age categories had dropped substantially.

Councillor Glen, seconded by Councillor Hood, moved that the report be noted.

Councillor Andy Doig, seconded by Councillor Nicolson, moved as an amendment that the report be noted and also include that the Board notes that 100,000 small businesses across Scotland were benefitting from the Small Business Bonus Scheme introduced by the SNP Government, but that the uptake for this scheme in Paisley and Renfrewshire was below the Scottish average.

On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment: Councillors McGurk, Mack, Andy Doig and Nicolson.

The following members voted for the motion: Councillors J Sharkey, Glen, McCartin, Caldwell, Hood, Provost Hall and Councillors Holmes and Mullin.

4 members having voted for the amendment and 8 members having voted for the motion, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.
Report by the Director of Development & Housing Services.
5
There was submitted a report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the operation and governance of the Supplier Development Programme (SDP).

The SDP was a company created, owned and operated by a consortium of Scottish local authorities, including Renfrewshire Council, with the purpose of assisting small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to become more informed, aware and capable of tendering for both public and private sector contracts. Each local authority member made an annual financial contribution to support the delivery of the programme, the amount commensurate with the size of the local authority.

Following an independent review, the SDP was engaged in a transformation process to ensure it was more responsive to the local needs of all areas of Scotland and the report explained the operational and governance arrangements proposed as part of the transformation.

The new approach had been fundamental to securing additional funding of £360,000 over two years from the Scottish Government through the Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership.

DECIDED: That the Director of Development & Housing Services be authorised to continue membership of the Supplier Development Programme as a means of encouraging and supporting small to medium-sized enterprises in Renfrewshire to benefit from public sector business opportunities.


SEDERUNT

Councillor Mack left the meeting during consideration of the following item and did not return.
Report by the Director of Development & Housing Services.
6
There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to the Paisley Townscape Heritage and Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (Phase 2) intimating that applications for funding had been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Scotland for a second Paisley Townscape Heritage (TH) and Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS).

The report set out the proposed next steps for project development in line with the Paisley Townscape Heritage and Conservation Area Strategy (PHCHAS) and the Council’s bid for the UK City of Culture 2021.

Councillor Glen, seconded by Councillor Hood, moved that the Director of Development & Housing Services be authorised to accept the Heritage Lottery Fund Stage 1 Grant of £113,300 to develop a Stage 2 Townscape Heritage submission for Paisley Town Centre Conservation Area; and that it be agreed that a complementary Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme be developed with a view to a submission being made to Historic Scotland in January 2016.

Councillor Andy Doig, seconded by Councillor Nicolson, moved that it be agreed that a Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme be developed in due course as part of the Renfrewshire Tourism Framework, recognising the importance of maintaining and restoring the conservation area heritage of Paisley and Renfrewshire as a whole.

On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment: Councillors McGurk, Andy Doig and Nicolson.

The following members voted for the motion: Councillors J Sharkey, Glen, McCartin, Caldwell, Hood, Provost Hall and Councillors Holmes and Mullin.

4 members having voted for the amendment and 8 members having voted for the motion, the motion was accordingly declared carried.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Director of Development & Housing Services be authorised to accept the Heritage Lottery Fund Stage 1 Grant of £113,300 to develop a Stage 2 Townscape Heritage submission for Paisley Town Centre Conservation Area; and

(b) That it be agreed that a complementary Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme be developed with a view to a submission being made to Historic Scotland in January 2016.
Report by the Director of Development & Housing Services.
7
Under reference to item 3 of page 220 of the Minute of the meeting of this Board held on 19th November, 2014 there was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to development of the Business Incubator to support new businesses, increase business growth and improve local employment opportunities.

The vacant unit at 27 High Street, Paisley was being refurbished as the Business Incubator providing four floors of business space for early-stage companies. Two staff had been recruited to and were developing the launch of the Business Incubator and the terms and conditions of use. The report outlined the key dates in the competitive selection process for businesses seeking to locate within the incubator and it was anticipated that businesses that were selected would start to move in by the end of June 2015.

DECIDED:

(a) That progress to deliver the Business Incubator and the key dates for future activities be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that further updates on the project would be submitted to this Board.
Report by the Director of Development & Housing Services.
8
There was submitted an update report by the Director of Development & Housing Services relative to a cultural engagement project to support the Council’s broader ambition to prepare for a bid to become UK City of Culture in 2021.

The proposed project, Paisley Takeover, would be delivered in partnership with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RNSO) and would give 61 young people aged 15-24 an opportunity to work in all sectors of the RNSO. The project would also provide educational workshops to over 500 primary school pupils.

The main outcomes of the project which would culminate in a live, open air concert in Paisley Town Centre planned, programmed and delivered by participants were listed within the report. The cost to deliver this project of £39,700 included project management, workshop facilitation, 2 days hire of the full orchestra and music licence fees and would be met from existing budgets

DECIDED: That the project to be delivered by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra be agreed and officers be authorised to proceed with the planning and delivery of the project.
Exemption Notice
Items Of Business - Private

Attendance

Name
No other member attendance information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for Sending Apology
Provost Lorraine Cameron 
Councillor Jim Harte 
NameReason for Absence
No absentee information has been recorded for the meeting.

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

Visitor Information is not yet available for this meeting