PAPER B

 

                                                                                                                Purpose : for Decision

                        REPORT TO THE EXECUTIVE

 

Date :              10 MARCH 2004

 

Title :               REPORT OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP

 

REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, UK AND EU, REWGIONAL ISSUES

 

IMPLEMENTATION DATE : 22 March 2004

 

            SUMMARY/PURPOSE

 

1                    To receive, as part of the performance management system, the quarterly report of the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership and consider what, if any, actions to take in order to ensure the delivery of economic development objectives.

 

           

            BACKGROUND

 

2                    On 3rd December the Executive resolved to continue to monitor the work of the IWEP on a quarterly basis as part of its contract management role. The summary of the IWEP's activities attached to this report is provided for this purpose and an officer from the IWEP will attend to answer Members' questions.

 

3                    Appendix 1 covers the activities of IWEP since October 2003. It provides an overview of performance on all IWEP activities and is not restricted to the relatively small proportion of those activities which are funded by the Council.

 

4                    This extra information allows the Executive to keep under review the totality of the IWEP’s contribution to economic development activity on the island and consider whether the Council's own contribution is appropriate in relation to the activities undertaken by other agencies.

 

5                    Members will recall that the Quarterly Performance Management Report discussed at the meeting of 25 February made particular reference to Public Service Agreement (PSA) target 11 (over 50s employment) as an area to watch. The IWEP has already received 'first year pump priming' funds in relation to this target and if it is not achieved over the lifetime of the PSA, the Council would not receive £277,000 performance reward grant. Pages 3 and 4 of Appendix 1 explain the actions taken to date, with further detail provided in Appendix 2.   Members should note:

 

a.       that the agreement between the Council and IWEP for them to deliver PSA targets on behalf of the Council was not finalised until September 2003 and consequently activity will not have taken place over the full financial year.

 

b.      it was always anticipated that there would be a considerable “lead in” time for this target as there is a need to develop and implement projects (many of them training related) prior to people going into jobs. 

 

These factors were reflected in the target profiling for the PSA.  As shown in the attached reports there as been considerable activity carried out by IWEP with no reason to believe that the targets set will not be achieved.

 

6                    Other IWEP activities particularly worth noting described in Appendix 1 are:

·        Area Investment Framework (AIF) - work to link the Island Futures LSP & the AIF and to support the LSP in establishing & delivering an Island Vision

·        Cowes Waterfront - progress in securing tenants and the timetable for short-listing candidates to undertake the master planning exercise

·        Progress on developing a new branding strategy for the Island

·        Broadband - the use of Regional Aggregation Boards to procure the Island's needs in this high profile project

·        That the IWEP's financial forecasts are on target for the first 9 months of the financial year.

·        Regeneration programmes - all of these have met targets and the profiles set in their delivery plans

·        Healthy Living programme - that the annual reports and internal evaluation reports on 15 projects to the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) have been well received.

 

            STRATEGIC CONTEXT

 

7.                  The Council delivers its economic development activities through the IWEP.  These contribute to the achievement of the Corporate Objective “encouraging job creation and economic prosperity” contained in the Corporate Plan. The Executive should be aware that although economic development is a discretionary function for the Authority its significance will be increased in the next CPA round (2006) when these activities will be included in the assessment.

 

8.                  In addition to contributing to 2 PSA targets (supporting business & job creation, and encouraging over 50s into work), the IWEP's contribution is crucial to achieving the recommendations of the Best Value review of Economic Development and the Audit Commission report on Partnerships. The completion of any outstanding recommendations will be considered as part of the review of the SLA for 2005/06.

 

CONSULTATION

 

9.                  As a report on past activity, consultation in the preparation of the report is unnecessary. However, Economic Development, Planning and Tourism Select Committee continue to receive reports from the IWEP on a regular basis so that it can examine the extent to which the island is being well served by the Executive’s approach to economic well-being and development and, by extension, by the current multi agency activity.

 

            FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

 

10               For the financial year 2003/04 the Council have contributed £104,000 in cash to the IWEP, in addition to which there are seconded staff as described in the Service Level Agreement.  The Council continue to meet the agreement to pay rent on Enterprise House should the IWEP be unable to do so.  This amounts to £135,000 per year paid in quarterly instalments of £33,750. The IWEP's growth bid for the financial year 2004 / 05 was considered, together with all other growth bids, as part of the budget making process concluded by Full Council recently, but was not approved.

 

            LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

11.             The council has a duty under the Local Government Act 1999 (and subsequent circulars) to deliver best value. In respect of economic development and regeneration it is considered that this is best accomplished through the letting and management of the contract with the IWEP.

 

12.             More significantly, there is a duty to keep under review the use of discretionary economic well-being powers under part 1 Local Government Act 2000.

 

            OPTIONS

 

i           To receive the report from the IWEP and resolve what actions should be taken in respect of any areas of concern

 

ii          To receive the report from the IWEP and wait until the next quarterly report before deciding if there are additional actions the Executive would wish to see being taken

 

            EVALUATION/RISK MANAGEMENT

 

13.             The Executive resolved in December that it would continue to undertake contract management itself through the continued receipt of quarterly reports. 

 

 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

Option ii

 

 

            BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

14        Service Level Agreement between the Council and IWEP

 

15        Legal Agreements between the Council and IWEP undertaking to guarantee payment of the rent on the properties known as Enterprise House and the Innovation Centre, St Cross Business Park, Newport, should the IWEP be unable to do so.

 

            ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

Appendix 1 – IWEP Activities – Quarterly Report October  –March 2004

Appendix 2 – PSA Target 11 – Over 50s Employment.

 

            Contact Point :Lesley Williams, Principal Policy Officer

                                      Tel: +44 (0)1983 823797    email: [email protected]

 

 

J BENTLEY

Head of Corporate Policy and Communications

H REES

Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, UK and EU, Regional Issues