PAPER A

POLICY COMMISSION MEETING

Meeting	Policy Commission for Economy, Tourism, Regeneration and Transport
Ref	E.PC.11/01/06
Date	11 January 2006
Time	18.00 hours
Place	Committee Room 1, County Hall, Newport
Purpose of meeting	Formal Public Meeting
Attendance	Commission	Cllrs George Brown (Commissioner), Ivan Bulwer, Henry Adams, Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond, Charles Hancock, John Hobart,
	Cabinet	Cllr Ian Ward, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Planning
	Cabinet Secretariat	Cllr David Pugh
	Other Councillors
	Officers	Ms April West, O&S Team Mr John Metcalfe, Associate Director of Cultural and Leisure Services Mr Derek Rowell, Director of Environment Services Mr Nigel Smith, Head of Tourism
	Stake holders	Mr David Groocock, IW Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry Mr Kevin Smith, IW Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry
	Apologies	Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox
Agenda Items
1. To agree the notes of the previous meeting	1.1 The notes of the meeting held on 30 November 2005 were agreed.
2. To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda	2.1 There were no declarations of interest.
3. To receive an update on the Value for Money (VFM) Leisure project	3.1 A procurement exercise would run alongside the Value for Money (VFM) Leisure project as a potential time-saving exercise but would not influence the outcome of the project. 3.2 The procurement process would gain an idea of the current market for leisure contracts. 3.3 Any procurement bids would be open to all third party operators. 3.4 A shadow bid would be drawn up by the Council.
Action required	None
4. To receive evidence in the form of a presentation on the Value for Money (VFM) Tourism project from the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism and Industry	4.1 A public/private partnership could form an alternative delivery mechanism externalising the non strategic elements of tourism including the production and distribution of guides, management of the DMS and website, management of the booking and referral service to include the call centre, and managing the market spend. 4.2 A private partner could manage industry engagement, and quality assurance with partner organisations. 4.3 The IWC could make savings over the first three years of £1,045,125. 4.4 The IWC would retain the management and development of the Tourism Strategic Plan, direct input into marketing the Island as a tourism destination, and monitor the marketing spend and the benefits for the IOW as set out in the TDP. 4.5 The benefits to the tourism industry would be an increased image campaign, better value advertising rates for quality graded Island businesses, focused industry training, enhanced quality support, and an increase in business to the tourism industry. 4.6 Following detailed questioning by members of the Commission it emerged from a comment by the Head of Isle of Wight Tourism that the Chamber may have made cost assumptions from an unreliable base.
Action required	O&S Team to send correct figures to Chamber of Commerce and invite them to submit revised costings for inclusion in the evidence base.	O&S Team
5. To remove £1 Bus ticket and Value for Money Wightbus project from the Commission’s work plan	5.1 It was agreed to remove the £1 Bus ticket and VFM Wightbus project from the Commission’s work plan.
Action required	To remove £1 Bus ticket and VFM Wightbus from the work plan.	O&S Team