Committee
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee, 01 May 2002
01 May 2002 · S1 · Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee
Item of business
Local Economic Forums
I am pleased to hear you say that. We should not ignore the complexities of the tensions over stewardship of taxpayers' money, local diversity and national priorities—I am sure that Annabel Goldie was not suggesting that we should.The LEF from my area has spoken about problems between West and East Dunbartonshire and said that what may be considered duplication and waste over a large area in and around Glasgow may actually be a resource for the LEF in a much smaller area. Have you had a chance to reflect on feedback? Have you considered—although not in a prescriptive fashion—the next steps for the LEFs?
In the same item of business
The Convener:
SNP
Item 3 concerns local economic forums. I ask the minister to make some introductory remarks.
Ms Alexander:
Lab
We welcome the committee's scrutiny of the local economic forum process. This is the right moment for that, about 14 months after the forums' inception. I am...
The Convener:
SNP
Do you see local economic forums as a permanent feature of the landscape in Scotland?
Ms Alexander:
Lab
Not necessarily. That remains an open question.
The Convener:
SNP
Do you think that, over the piece, the forums have achieved the objective of beginning to eliminate duplication and waste and identifying cost savings that c...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
They have achieved some of their objectives. I have the same difficulty as committee members in knowing what is happening in 22 local economic forums. Over t...
The Convener:
SNP
We have only 20 minutes and five members have indicated a wish to speak, so can we make the questions and, ideally, the answers fairly short and sharp?
Miss Goldie:
Con
I think that I speak for those of us who were on the committee when it produced the proposal for local economic fora—I think that only Marilyn Livingstone an...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
I do not think that they can act responsively if they are driven prescriptively by our department, but I really do not think that that is happening. We have ...
Miss Goldie:
Con
Minister, you have spoken about tasks—for example, appointed tasks for year 1 and forum tasks for year 2. How can the ingredient of localness, in any indepen...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
There is no direction on what people should save money on. The committee told the Executive about the degree of duplication and we have said that we want peo...
Brian Fitzpatrick:
Lab
I am pleased to hear you say that. We should not ignore the complexities of the tensions over stewardship of taxpayers' money, local diversity and national p...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
From the feedback, I think that the desire is to have the opportunity to be strategic. Over the past year, we have asked LEFs to focus on the relationship wi...
Tavish Scott:
LD
I attended a deeply practical meeting of a local economic forum in Shetland at the beginning of the year. I appreciate that the issue is different in my part...
The Convener:
SNP
That has been done in Clackmannan.
Tavish Scott:
LD
I was interested in the minutes of the most recent meeting of the task force, which decided not to consider a paper on learning and skills at the moment beca...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
Over the past year, LEFs have been very practical. We have told them to sort out the duplication and who does what. Some have risen to that challenge and now...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
To what extent is there the willingness and capacity in local government to engage with LEFs in the community planning process? Have you had any discussions ...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
I have had informal discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and I have asked for formal discussions. We want to avoid the economic sect...
David Mundell:
Con
I was not a member of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee when it produced the report, so I do not have to pretend that I like it—I do not.
Ms Alexander:
Lab
That is admirably candid. The report was my first engagement as a minister, on day one.
David Mundell:
Con
I always felt that the report fudged the line between local government, the enterprise companies and others. Do you not think that it is important to establi...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
It is all of them.
David Mundell:
Con
It is all very well to say that it is all of them, but if there is no mechanism that allows someone to own the task—
Ms Alexander:
Lab
You have hit on the kernel of the argument, which is that "A Smart, Successful Scotland" is a strategy document for the enterprise networks. That invites the...
David Mundell:
Con
The committee's evidence shows that flexibility and circumstances vary. I return to a point that I have raised repeatedly in the committee. Local government,...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
I agree wholeheartedly. I would like guidance from the committee on two issues. How hard do we drive down the savings agenda on non-statutory bodies that jus...
The Convener:
SNP
The last word goes to Marilyn Livingstone.
Marilyn Livingstone:
Lab
Your comments on "A Smart, Successful Scotland" and allowing localities to develop it for their areas answer Annabel Goldie's point about local flavour and f...
Ms Alexander:
Lab
The community planning process is serviced by local government, so local government officers—not LEC officers—will draw up the economic section of a communit...