Agenda and minutes

None.

Agreed as an accurate record.

To confirm the items of business marked Part I will be considered in public and that the items marked Part II will be considered in private.

It was agreed that all items of business were considered in public.

Rob Grover – Partnership Manager, Business Link for London

The review was provided with the following information:

·        Business Link offers free, impartial advice and support service for London’s small and medium sized businesses

·        Business Link received its funding from the London Development Agency and was delivered by Serco plc

·        The role of Business Link was to help business start ups and established businesses survive, prosper and grow. This was achieved through the provision of high quality and practical advice and information as well as providing businesses with access to other sources of business support

·        In the 12 month period from January 2009 to December 2009, over 3,600 Hillingdon based businesses were helped by Business Link. Support ranged from registering for the newsletter, making use of the on-line support tools, attending an information and networking event, through to receiving intensive personal assistance through a full Business Review

·        70% of businesses the organisation had worked with were micro-businesses but in the present economic climate, Business Link would be pushing to help more SME's, those employing 5+ staff which could grow, employ more staff etc

·        Business Link provided introductory start up and business planning workshops. Once these had been attended and a business plan had been prepared they would be referred to the Business London Programme for further workshops and then if appropriate, intensive start up support

·        Business Link actively filtered businesses to assess how serious businesses were. This would bring a higher success rate

The relationship with Chambers of Commerce was discussed and reference was made to a number of towns within the Borough that did not have a Chamber. The possibility of Business Link involvement in helping setting Chambers of Commerce up was discussed but Members were informed this would need investment

Discussion took place on the work that the London Development Agency commissioned and whether there were any opportunities for local authorities to influence or shape the nature of this work. An option could be for the Council to lobby the London Development Agency and Members agreed that this could be a recommendation of the review.

Members referred to Business Clubs which would facilitate business to business support, business discounts, collective purchasing of service and goods and possibly mentoring and support from larger businesses to smaller businesses. The Business Link representative explained that the organisation only worked with businesses with a maximum of 249 employees, but the concept of business clubs and mentoring and support could be explored.    

Members were reminded that a second facet of the review was looking at Industrial Estates and looking at how the Council and its partners could improve links with businesses. Particular interest was in relation to forming business clubs, business to business support and improving the profile of businesses on industrial estates. For the purpose of the review, focus would be on North Uxbridge Industrial Area which had 47 units and an employment number of over 2,000.     

Neil Impiazzi – Partnership Development Manager of SEGRO

The review was provided with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

Members noted the report and the cancellation of the meeting which had been scheduled for 21 April 2010.

Members were reminded that at a meeting of this Committee held on 21 January 2009 consideration had been given to a Cabinet report which provided details on the Service Review for the Deputy Chief Executive’s and Finance and Resources Directorates. At this meeting Members had sought re-assurance that the proposals for the restructure of the Democratic Services Section would not adversely on the quality of service provided to Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

The Head of Democratic Services and the Senior Democratic Services Manager attended the meeting and circulated a report which provided Members with details on Democratic Services – One Year On, after the restructure. Details of the changes which took place, together with the successes were provided. The successes included increased staff productivity, an increase in Member satisfaction in the support given to Committees (88% of Members were very satisfied – Members Survey) and a positive resident feedback.

The Chairman endorsed and gave his support to the current staffing structure within Democratic Services but asked that consideration be given to including in this report, feedback from officers on their satisfaction with the new restructure and the new working practices.

Officers were also asked to provide information to Members on the number of completed Resident Feedback Forms for 2009.

Reference was made to the performance targets for Policy Overview Committees and concern was expressed at the lack of involvement of Policy Overview Chairmen in devising these targets. The Chairman asked that consideration be given to re-instating the Policy Overview Committee Chairmen Working Group meeting, to enable Policy Overview Committee Chairmen to monitor the performance of the support given to their Committees and to provide input into the setting of the performance targets which related to Policy Overview Committees for next Municipal Year.

Resolved –

1.       That the Forward Plan for April to July 2010 be noted.

 2. That officers be asked to action the issues outlined above and to provide the information requested.