POLICY COMMISSION MEETING

Meeting	Policy Commission for Economy, Tourism, Regeneration and Transport
Ref	E.PC.10/05/06
Date	10 May 2006
Time	18.00 hours
Place	Council Chamber, County Hall, Newport
Purpose of meeting	Formal Public Meeting
Attendance	Commission	Cllrs George Brown (Commissioner), Henry Adams, Ivan Bulwer, Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond, Charles Hancock, John Hobart, Lora Peacey-Wilcox
	Cabinet
	Cabinet Secretariat	Cllr David Pugh, Cllr Alan Wells
	Other Councillors	Cllr Erica Oulton Cllr Andy Sutton Cllr Melanie Swan Cllr Arthur Taylor Cllr Julian Whittaker
	Officers	Ms Andrea Lisseter, O&S Team Ms April West, O&S Team Mr John Metcalfe, Acting Assistant Chief Executive Mr Nigel Smith, Head of Tourism
	Stake holders
	Apologies	Cllr Tim Hunter-Henderson Cabinet Member for Economy, Regeneration, Tourism and Leisure
Agenda Items
1. To agree the notes of the previous meeting	1.1 The notes of the meeting held on 8 March 2006 were agreed.
2. To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda	2.1 Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox declared a personal interest as her business advertised in Island Life Magazine.
3. To receive and discuss the blue paper on the Value for Money (VFM) Tourism Project (E05/05)	The Commission expressed thanks to all those involved in evidence gathering for the blue paper, in particular the Head of Tourism and his team. Commission members emphasised the importance of tourism to the Island with specific regard to their own wards prior to a presentation on the blue paper. 3.1 The process of ‘franchising’ in recommendation 2.4 would allow a suitably qualified third party to use a package of goodwill and intellectual property rights developed by the Council, for example the goodwill associated with the ‘Official’ Accommodation Guide, under strictly defined performance terms and in exchange for a franchise fee. A franchise would be granted only to a commercial operator of the approved quality and competence. If no such firms came forward and were willing to accept the Council’s terms, there would be no franchise. If there was any performance breach under a franchise, the franchise would fall and all rights would return to the Council. 3.2 The recommendation regarding TICs would take time to negotiate and arrange. The Council envisaged that there could be opportunities for the present staff of TICs, even if locations change. 3.3 The transfer of call centre activity was in line with Corporate Strategy. It would be a location and organisational change, not a withdrawal of service. 3.4 The relocation of staff currently based at Westridge to the corporate centre would avoid silos. 3.5 The recommendations related to the five corporate objectives and contributed to two of the five immediate priorities relating to partnership working and cost-effective services. 3.6 The Cabinet Secretaries agreed to provide statistics to the Commission on compensation claims made as a result of poor upkeep by the Council with regard to footpaths etc. 3.7 Cllr David Pugh read out the following statement from Cllr Tim Hunter-Henderson, Cabinet Member for Economy, Regeneration, Tourism and Leisure. ‘I would like to thank Cllr George Brown and the members of his Commission for their hard work in preparing this blue paper for consideration by the Cabinet. The recommendations in the paper represent a skeleton of challenging ideas and I will now be consulting with officers, partners and stakeholders in order to put the meat on the bones with a view to continuing to deliver the Tourism Development Plan and our quality agenda, whilst at the same time ensuring that we offer value for money for the council tax payer’. 3.8 The Commission agreed the blue paper, for submission to the Cabinet.
Action required	None