Argyll and the Islands Local Economic Forum

Local Economic Forums

Following an enquiry by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee of the Scottish Parliament into the delivery of Local Economic Development Services in Scotland, the Argyll and the Islands Local Economic Forum (AILEF) was established in March 2001.  The composition of the Forum was formally approved by Scottish Executive on 29 May 2001.
 
The first task for each of the 22 LEFs in Scotland is to streamline the delivery of local business development services in the area, by identifying any areas of congestion, duplication, confusion, overlap or gaps in provision.


Background   

National guidelines on the formation and running of Local Economic Forums were published in March 2001.  Scottish Executive have looked to the Local Enterprise Companies to facilitate the setting up and servicing of the forums based on LEC boundaries.  Each forum must have a tight central core of the private sector, local government, the Enterprise Network and the local learning sector and should ideally have ten members plus a chair.

The role of the forums is to agree a local shared vision and programme of action for the streamlining and improvement of service delivery.  They have a specific remit, tackling first the streamlining of business development services and thereafter they will move on to consider local delivery mechanisms for lifelong learning, better local labour market co-ordination and other areas such as trade and tourism. 

Key messages from the National Guidelines are as follows:

  • Forums should agree a shared vision and action plan to achieve greater value for the considerable sums of public money spent on economic development.
  • The focus of activity should be to achieve genuine rationalisation of provision at the local level.  They should tackle duplication as a means of releasing resources to fill gaps and create new opportunities.
  • Businesses are the key drivers of wealth creation.  Forums should therefore look at the most effective way of engaging businesses, including those in the social economy, in service design and delivery.
  • Forums should be small and focused with a core of businesses, local authorities, the local learning sector, tourism agencies and the LECs.  We envisage a tight core membership of around 10 with wider consultative mechanisms.
  • Forums working effectively have the opportunity to be the major contributor to the economic dimension of the community planning process.
  • Forums will lead a process of evaluating “what works” for streamlining existing delivery processes and partnership structures.
  • Key tasks will be set at least on an annual basis.  The initial priority for forums will be to focus on business services including eradicating wasteful duplication and improving standards.
  • The use of information and communications technology should be at the heart of this service redesign process.  The forum process will be web enabled.
  • If forums are to achieve sustained superior growth they must be outcome based with jointly approved targets that delivery greater efficiency and effectiveness in delivery.  The Scottish Executive and Audit Scotland will assist in this process.

Current position

Delivery of the action plan focusing on business development services is well underway.  A mapping exercise revealed that there were few areas of overlap, although there was some evidence of perceived confusion amongst the client group and the awareness of the activities of all agencies needed to be improved.

Tasks for year two have been identified as the continuing implementation of the action plan plus addressing transport issues, which are seen as being critical to the economic wellbeing of Argyll and the Islands. 

As a first action in addressing transport issues the Argyll Atlantic Islands Transport Conference was held on Mull in October 2003.  A downloadable report on the conference is available through the related documents link int the right hand column.

All LEFs have been asked to develop a Local Economic Strategy for their area and this is available to download here.

Contact:

HIE Argyll and the Islands
The Enterprise Centre
Kilmory Industrial Estate
Lochgilphead
Argyll
PA31 8SH
Tel: 01546 602281
Fax: 01546 603964

The national website homepage can be found by clicking here.
Key links