11 June 2004
The future of local economic forums in Scotland has been thrown into doubt following a report this week by auditor general Bob Black.
He has called on the Scottish Executive to review whether LEFs should continue because the statutory community planning arrangements now being developed across Scotland may duplicate their role and activities.
LEFs were established by the Scottish Executive in April 2001 after a Scottish Parliament inquiry into local economic development.
It recommended the setting up of local forums for each enterprise area, with the aim of eliminating confusion, overlap, duplication and active competition between the various agencies involved, including local enterprise companies, local authorities, area tourist boards and further education colleges.
As voluntary partnerships whose members are drawn from the agencies, the 22 LEFs were given the extra task of agreeing a shared vision and programme of action for improving economic services to business.
When the bodies were set up, Audit Scotland, headed by Black, was asked to monitor progress.
In his report, the auditor general says LEFs have had little apparent impact. Across Scotland, there was no statistically significant improvement between 2002 and 2003 in the extent to which business leaders agreed they had a clear idea of which public sector organisations provided which business services in their area.
However, the LEFs delivered most of the financial benefits expected of them, with local enterprise companies and local authority partners redeploying £2.8m for other uses annually against a target of up to £3.7m. The budget for support services in 2001/02 totalled £125m.
Commenting on the report, Black said that while LEFs had made good progress towards their goal of eliminating overlap and duplication, times had now moved on.
He added: 'There may be a case for saying that the forums have served their purpose in the light of the new arrangements for community planning.'
The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 provides a statutory basis for community planning in Scotland, requiring local authorities to 'initiate, facilitate and maintain the community planning process'.
A local authority is expected to take the lead for a community planning partnership for its area, comprising all relevant public, private, voluntary and community bodies.
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