Economic Development Association Scotland Blog

West Lothian Council to invest additional £5 million in communities

2011-10-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

"West Lothian Council has unveiled a series of wide ranging plans that will result in an additional £5million being invested in positive outcomes for local people.

Jobs and training opportunities for young people, increased support for vulnerable families through early intervention and an increased focus on renewable energy are the three main areas which will benefit as a result of the comprehensive £5 million investment package.

The additional money is a result of an under spend on this year’s budget. The under spend was achieved mainly through proactive workforce planning combined with effective financial management across the council.

Council Leader Peter Johnston explained: “Through efficient use of resources we have been able to save just over £5 million.

“We are committed to ensuring that every penny will be invested back into our communities and benefit the most vulnerable people in West Lothian.

“At a time when there’s lots of doom and gloom surrounding the state of public finances, this substantial investment is fantastic news for the residents of West Lothian. As opposed to cuts, we are creating new skills for the workforce and our communities.

“We have been proactive on our approach to workforce planning and worked alongside the trade unions to effectively protect jobs whilst facing reductions in our budgets.

“We have managed to reduce our staffing numbers without the need for compulsory redundancies.

“We have continually said that there was a need to work in more modern and flexible ways to deliver services with fewer resources available and this additional funding illustrates what can be achieved with good financial management.”

The additional £5million will be spent over a three year period on three areas. They are:

1. Employment for young people
Almost half of the investment, £2.4 million, will be spent on delivering employment and training opportunities for young people, who are one of the groups, affected most by high levels of unemployment.

Councillor Johnston added: “We are absolutely committed to providing employment and training opportunities for our young people. We are investing in projects which will not only provide much needed jobs, but help hundreds of young people gain access to training and life experience outside of the classroom. This type of support not only provides short term benefits but is also an investment in the future.

The projects include:
• Funding additional training and employment opportunities for young people, including modern apprenticeships. The move will result in 40 additional (two year) Modern Apprenticeships, 60 full time job opportunities through a West Lothian Jobs Fund and 250 Wage Subsidies to employers for recruiting young unemployed people (100 16-17 year olds and 150 18-24 year olds).
• Delivering accredited vocational courses in all secondary schools to improve the skills of young people and focus on improving employment opportunities and positive destinations for schools leavers.
• Establishing a valued vocational workshop space at West Calder High School to deliver college accredited courses for motor mechanics and building skills. This resource will be accessed from across all West Lothian secondary schools.

2. Preventative spending in early years
£2million will be allocated to early intervention projects for children and families. Councillor Johnston added:

“There is a huge amount of evidence which highlights the importance of investing in early years and early intervention, which has been a key area for the council for a number of years, particularly through our Life Stages programme.

“Early intervention is hugely important for children and families who come from difficult backgrounds and experience inequality and serious challenges at an early stage in their lives.

The projects include:
• Developing a web based advocacy service for looked after children and providing hardware and training and development facilities.
• Developing a specialist service to engage with families to help them overcome crisis situations and find solutions to their problems. The service is called Families Included.
• Providing enhanced nurture in primary schools and support to help the transition from primary to secondary school for pupils that need it most. This helps increase attainment and positive outcomes for pupils.

“We recognise that when you act early and invest in preventative provision you are essentially spending to save, whilst enabling vulnerable young people achieve their full potential.

“By targeting problems affecting our communities today, we can help reduce the bigger problems of tomorrow, which are often more expensive and more damaging for our communities and individuals.

“A key outcome of the new Families Included project is that we anticipate reduced long-term costs for public sector bodies, including the council, health and the police. For example, diverting even one child from the families involved entering a residential school or secure unit would reduce costs by around £150,000 and £250,000 per annum respectively.

“These figures highlight the importance of early intervention and that is why we are providing additional funding in this area.”

3. Delivering a sustainable future through renewables and sustainable technology

Councillor Johnston added: “We are investing £786,000 in renewables and sustainable technology. By investing in this area now, we are effectively preparing for the future to ensure that we are on the front foot in an increasingly important area of growth.

“With rising fuels costs and the introduction of the new ‘carbon tax’, combined with the already high costs associated with energy usage, we are investing in renewables as a way of creating jobs, reducing energy consumption and reducing future costs.

The projects include:

• Investing in renewable technology, especially solar panels, to help reduce energy consumption and subsequent costs.
• Training opportunities for existing council staff to develop new skills in the renewables industry, which is an area of growth. The investment will mean that the council will be able to develop its own capabilities to deliver and maintain renewable technology, rather than have to buy in external expertise.
• The council is aiming to have 30 properties with solar panels, including offices, schools and partnership centres. However, the council will also look at ways to install solar panels to council homes helping to reduce energy consumption and costs for residents.

Councillor Johnston added:
“We could have held off and invested the money in future years, but by accelerating the £5 million of spending now we can invest it in local people to help deliver priority services, provide more efficient ways of working and enhance future opportunities for economic growth.

“Essentially by spending now, we are investing in the future and helping to put West Lothian in a stronger position in the years to come.”

Local Government Minister Aileen Campbell said:
"It is encouraging to see West Lothian Council making the most of their resources in the current financial climate to boost the local economy.
"West Lothian Council are using the efficiencies they have made to benefit communities, and in particular young people. This is a welcome and powerful example.”

Damien Yeates, Chief Executive of Skills Development Scotland added:

“We’re delighted that West Lothian Council has shown its commitment to ensuring positive outcomes for people across the area through this considerable investment in providing jobs and training opportunities.

“This funding will help young people in to the world of work and will go some way to ensuring that West Lothian businesses have appropriately trained workforces. This in turn will greatly benefit West Lothian’s economy.”

A sneak preview of Prof Ewart Kepp's presentation

2011-09-09T04:59:00.000-07:00

On the 15 September in Glasgow we are running a leadership and productivity breakfast briefing in partnership with Scottish Enterprise.

Porfessor Ewart Kepp is a keynote speaker and has kindly made his presentation available. Professor Kepp is deputy director the ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge & Organisational Performance (SKOPE), and is based in the School of Social Science, Cardiff University.

He has written extensively on lifelong learning, education and training policy making, apprenticeship and youth training, managerial attitudes towards investment in skill, and the linkages between skills and economic performance.

If it wets your appetite for more, why not attend the briefing? Places are still avilable.

Book your place now

View the presentation

Is poor leadership the key to Scotland's relatively weak performance on productivity?

2011-08-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Scotland may have the highest employment rate of the four countries in the United Kingdom (71.9%), but economic uncertainty (re: looming public sector cuts) and low confidence continues to plague the economy.

Out with our borders, the Eurozone crisis continues despite recent calm in the markets, while the American economy looks close to bottoming out. Figures released today show that the US economy grew by just 1%.

There is no simple solution to galvanise the sluggish rate of growth; no silver bullet. So what is to be done?

At an upcoming breakfast session with Scottish Enterprise, we will be discussing what role leadership and productivity play in boosting growth. EDAS Chair and Director of Glasgow University Training & Employment Research Unit, Alan McGregor, leads the session with guest speakers Professor Ewart Keep and Crawford Gillies, Chair of Scottish Enterprise.

Speaking recently, Mr Gillies said:

“There are still too many companies in Scotland who are simply happy with the status quo of their leadership and ambition. They may actually be doing quite well, but they could be doing even better.”

Professor Keep, an expert on the linkages between skills and economic development, said:

“It isn't at all clear what the category 'manager' means in the UK, but it plainly means something slightly different elsewhere in Europe, because we have more managers proportionally than almost anyone else”.

“Scottish managers may be making perfectly rational choices, given the incentive structure they face. Those choices may maximise short-term profitability and share performance, while failing to maximise productivity. If we are not careful, we may end up helping managers to do bad things better."

The panel will be joined by: Linda Hanna, Director of Enterprise Services, Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and John Anderson, Chief Executive, The Entrepreneurial Exchange.

Book your place now

Panic and crisis in the markets (again)

2011-08-05T02:44:00.000-07:00

Despite recent government interventions, markets continue to have serious concerns that the Eurozone and America can contain the debt crisis and produce sustainable growth.

The facts give cause for alarm. The FTSE 100 lost 3.4% in early trading; huge sell-offs on Wall St are hitting the Dow Jones which fell 4.3%, one of its biggest falls ever; Japan’s Nikkei slide by 3.7%; and bond yields in Spain and Italy rose above 6%.

There is a ton of good coverage in the press, some of which is being live blogged.

Start off with last night's Newsnight piece.

Guardian

BBC

Telegraph

Independent

Introduction to Economic Development Course

2011-07-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the Economic Development Association Scotland (EDAS), Glasgow University’s Training and Employment Research Unit (TERU) will lead a 2-day course on ‘Policy and Practice for Local Economic Development’.

The course will be taught by a team from Glasgow University's Training and Employment Research Unit, led by Professor Alan McGregor, Director of TERU & Professor of Economic Development, University of Glasgow.

To book your place and take advantage of a discounted rate for members click here.

EDAS Citations in SP Committee Report

2011-03-08T07:35:00.001-08:00

We have already stated that the Economy, Energy & Tourism committee cited EDAS extensively in its enterprise network inquiry. Rather than taking our word for it or leave you to search for yourself, we've outlined the reference points for you:

Page 1

• 73. The variation of business support across the country was also borne out by written evidence received from local authorities and The Economic Development Association (Scotland) (EDAS) reported that “within the current structure it is very difficult to ensure you have the right balance between nationally set policies and local delivery on the ground”

Page 2

• 169. There is some evidence of a positive impact on the services… The Economic Development Association Scotland (EDAS), meanwhile, noted that “there has been less intra-regional competition within the network and improved focus on added value”, adding that it has helped keep costs down and enabled SE to be more cost-effective, and led to improvement in the delivery of national projects.

• 171. However, the Committee has also been presented with a number of less favourable views of the impact of the rationalisation on the services that the agencies deliver. For example, while EDAS identified some positive impacts (as previously noted), it states that “the majority of feedback was negative” and that the changes have been “extremely disruptive to the delivery of local economic development”.

• 219. A written submission from the Economic Development Association (EDAS) reported “a lack of consistency from area to area in how stakeholders are brought together and co-operate operationally”.

• 228. Among respondents to the inquiry, the Strategic Forum appeared to have a low profile. EDAS, following consultation with its members, reported that “the opinions of the Strategic Forum were far from complimentary. Many were completely unaware of the forum and any activities or discussions that came out of it.

•233. Written submissions to the Committee indicate that there is little awareness of the RABs outside of their participants and the agencies with Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future a notable exception. EDAS’s submission stated of RABs that “members either did not know who they were or thought that they had little or no impact – mere talking shops that are aloof, redundant and disconnected”.

• 273. A more positive attitude outlook on the issues raised above was put forward by EDAS, which reported that some members suggested extending account management to the Business Gateway network.

• 276. A number of arguments have been put forward against further reform at this stage. EDAS, for example, stated that “now is not the time for another government restructuring. Perhaps there are better models out there but precious energy and resources would be wasted in yet more structural change which most likely would damage economic recovery”.

Click here to read our submission to the committee.

SP Committee publish enterprise network inquiry

2011-03-08T06:25:00.000-08:00

The Economy, Energy & Tourism committee recently published the report into Scotland's enterprise agencies. Click here to read it.

The committee did not propose any fundamental structural changes but it did conclude that the agencies need to do "much more" to "support sustainable economic recovery and tackle the chronic lack of access to finance which is hindering business growth". Iain Smith, Committee Convener, said:

"We found failings and problems with the enterprise network, and sticking with the status quo carries the risk that businesses with potential for growth will be left out in the cold. However, we have not recommended significant structural reform of the network and the disruption that may bring, particularly in light of major changes in recent years.

“While there could be efficiencies made from replacing HIE and SE with a single agency, the issues facing the Highlands and Islands are substantial enough to merit a dedicated regional agency.”

Click here to read the press release in full.

EDAS were named several times in the report because of our contribution to the inquiry. We held a consultation event where our members were able to put their questions to the committee's convener Iain Smith MSP. The responses from the event, and the members' survey, formed the basis of our report to the committee's inquiry.

Regeneration Discussion Paper

2011-02-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

Recently, the Scottish Government launched a new discussion paper on regeneration. This paper sets out to kick-start debate on the future of regeneration in scotland, but is not an exhaustive review of regeneration policy. As the discussion paper states:

"Looking forward, it sets out where the Government sees the main regeneration challenges lying and the types of questions we will need to ask ourselves about our interventions and their effectiveness. It also brings together some current and new thinking about alternative approaches".

The video below also explains why the Government are conducting this policy exercise.

We will be submitting a response to the Government, a paper that will be based on the responses we receive from our members. Click here to complete the survey

Click here to read the discussion paper.

The closing date for submissions to the EDAS survey is Monday 7 March.

Labour Markets Event: Key Points Continued

2010-12-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

The last contribution came from Dr Patrick Watt, Head of Labour Market Research, SDS. His presentation, entitled “putting the local back into the local labour market,can be accessed here (p38-50).

Dr Watt’s presentation centred on reviewing some of the arguments for and against the use of Travel-to-Work-Areas (TTWAs) as approximations to local labour markets/ Functional Economic Market Areas (FEMAs). The key issue was to establish how the local labour market actually works at the local level and whether or not TTWAs are the most effective model in this regard?

Dr Watt argued that alternative approaches are more accurate approximations of local labour markets, one’s which focus on policy-driven geographies rather than data-driven ones. TTWAs continue to decline and are an “arbitrary approach”:

Just because it is the most sophisticated approach doesn’t make it relevant

How does the labour market work?

Dr Watt’s core argument here was to highlight that the differences between theory and practice are “most manifest at the local level”. Indeed, not only does the labour market operate in “un-market like ways” but key assumptions held by theoretical approaches are “difficult to sustain at the local level”.

Dr Watt concluded his contribution by calling for a rethink in how we approach labour markets (see p49 of slides for more details).

For more labour market news click here to sign up to a newsletter from SDS.

Suggested Further reading

BiS (2009), Skills for Growth: The National Skills Strategy
BiS (2010), Understanding Local Growth
Communities and Local Government (2010), Functional Economic Market Areas: An economic note

Labour Market Event - Key Points Continued

2010-12-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

The second contribution – “Skills for Scotland: Accelerating the Recovery and Increasing Sustainable Economic Growth” - came from Steven McMahon, Scottish Government Skills Division. You can download the presentation here.

The presentation covered four main themes: (1) overview of the economy. (2) Public finances. (3) The refreshed skills strategy. (4) Future work.

Economic Overview

- The Government’s current main objective was economic recovery.
- The economic strategy, despite the differing economic conditions, was still “bought into” by civil servants.
- The data (see slides 16-24) tells the story of Scotland lagging behind not only the UK but small EU countries.

Public Finances

- Due to the UK Comprehensive Spending Review, Scottish DEL will fall by 11.3% in real terms between 2010/11 and 2014/15.
- The money we have at our disposal now is the same as 2006 levels.

Refreshed Skills Strategy

- The new strategy can be viewed here - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/skills-strategy/overview
- It provides increased policy alignment with the economic recovery, national performance framework and the economic recovery plan as well as increased alignment with enterprise policies.
- Key focus = increased flexibility and greater simplification.
- Contains a host of achievements the Government has made since 2007 (see p31 of slides).
- Key commitments include (p33): over 40,000 training opportunities in 2010/11, flexible training incentives for employers, simplification of funding of employability support locally and improved linkages between colleges and local employers.

Future Work

- A review will be conducted by Willie Roe into post 16 education and vocational training.
- Further information can be found in his presentation (p35-36).

EDAS/SDS Labour Market Event - Key Points

2010-12-06T05:01:00.000-08:00

On the 22 November EDAS and SDS held a joint event on "labour markets: from national to local". You can download the presentations here.

1. UK Perspective - Future Demand for Skills: A Foresight Approach by Dr Richard Garret

- Dr Garret's presentation was largley based on The National Strategic Skills Audit for England 2010.
- The Audit examined England’s existing & future skills needs identifying the sectors, occupations & skills on which they need to focus.
- Future skills needs were assessed on 3 things: examining drivers of change, a set of LM projections & detailed sectoral analysis.

Key messages

- Need to ensure that the right skills are supplied to meet a changing labour market.
- Demand for, & growth of, high skilled jobs needs to be stimulated. Evidence indicates that too few employers treat skills as a long term investment.
- Identified several important skills priorities including: management & leadership skills, professional skills,Technician & equivalent skills, intermediate vocational skills & customer service & employability skills.
- The audit provided a framework for skills mismatches. Amongst other things, it shows the balance between demand & supply in the LM.
- Key elements of mismatch include: skill shortages, unemployment, skill gaps and migration
- Looking to the future the report outlined the key drivers of change, specifically how demand for skills is likely to change due to labour market adjustments and structural changes.
- 7 key drivers of change were highlighted: regulation & multi-level governance, demography, environment, economics and globalisation, technology, values & identities and consumer demand.
- Dr Garret also mentioned another key strand of work for the UKCES - “Ambition 2020: World Class Skills & Jobs”- which is an annual assessment of our (UK) “progress towards becoming world class in productivity, employment and skills be 2020”.

Member Update

2010-11-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy month or so. It saw us hold a breakfast on the Independent Budget Review with Crawford Beveridge (report due for release soon) while we also organised a consultation meeting and survey to feed into the Parliamentary committee’s(economy)inquiry into Scotland’s enterprise network.

The response to this inquiry is available here which canvassed opinion from our members. Don't forget you can watch these committee meetings. Outputs from previous events are also available to download – for e.g. paper from the youth unemployment event. See here.

Looking forward we have these dates for your diary. (1) The EDAS Board Meeting and Strategy Development Day takes place on 9 November. (2) 22 November sees our joint event with SDS on skills and labour markets, which will be followed by an open social networking evening. No excuse not to turn up to at least one. Book your place now before it's too late. (3) Today is your last chance to respond to an important tourism survey.

Lastly, our online resources are awash with fresh content. The International section has new information with an upcoming event from ESEC, whilst the member parliamentary and media monitoring briefings are all available to download. Likewise, our facebook and twitter page is full of advance notification on relevant media stories. And if that wasn’t enough, expect a e-bulletin in your mail boxes very soon.

SE Annual Review 2009-10

2010-09-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

You can also access the video on this link where you can watch individual chapters and read the Q&A session.

Members Only Consultation Events

2010-08-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

As stated previously, we are holding a FREE event to allow EDAS members to discuss the inquiry with representatives from the Economy, Energy & Tourism Committee.

The event will take place on 1 September, 0930 - 1130 in Edinburgh (Scottish Book Trust). Further details will be available shortly.

The contributions at the event will form part of EDAS' response to the committee's inquiry.

If you would like to attend either of these events contact Yvonne Prager on yvonne@edas.org.uk or 01475 522053.

Not a member? Join now by clicking here.

Review of Enterprise Agencies Purpose & Effectiveness - What do you think?

2010-08-12T03:41:00.000-07:00

Click here to fill out the survey.

The Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy & Tourism committee are currently conducting a “fundamental review of the purpose of an enterprise agency and the success of recent reforms”.

During the committee’s consideration of the 2010-11 budget “fundamental questions were raised about the purpose of the enterprise network and its role in economic development”. Simply put, the committee are questioning the entire purpose of the enterprise network and the role it should be play in a modern economy.

Recently a call for written evidence was released. You can send us your views by filling out this survey. You can also discuss the issues via the blog and at upcoming member's only events in Edinburgh & Inverness (see new post). It covers the following questions:

Fundamental, first principles analysis

• Could the Scottish Government’s economic aims be achieved in a different way? Are there more successful or efficient models of delivery in other parts of the world?
• Could services be delivered as effectively, with greater efficiency, by a single agency or some other structure with increased shared services etc? Conversely, are a single economic strategy and the SE account management model suitable for both Scotland and the Highlands & Islands?
• What should be the role for a publicly-funded enterprise network, what activities should it be expected to deliver and what resources are required? Alternatively, what alternative exists to the current model in Scotland and what benefits would this have?
• Do the enterprise agencies’ methodologies for calculating the return on investment bear scrutiny? Which activities have been identified as delivering most return on investment?

Value of recent reforms

• What impact has the rationalisation of the enterprise network and the abolition of the LECs had on the quality or effectiveness of the services delivered?
• Has the transfer of activities, such as the Business Gateway service, to local authorities improved the delivery of services to local businesses and what evidence is there of this?
• What has been the experience of businesses that are not account-managed by Scottish Enterprise/Highlands and Islands Enterprise since the 2007 reforms? Are such companies finding it difficult to attract the support they need from the enterprise agencies and what evidence is there of this?
• How joined up are the various agencies that are now charged with supporting economic recovery? Are there examples of successful partnership working between, for example, SE or HIE and local authorities? How has the establishment of the strategic forum assisted in this regard?
• What distinctive contribution has been made by HIE as a result of its social/strengthening communities remit? Should the same obligation be applied to SE?
• Have COSLA and SE been able to agree on what constitutes local, regional and national regeneration? Are local authorities maintaining levels of local regeneration activities? What benefits have accrued from the transfer of local regeneration activities to local authorities? What has been the impact on regional regeneration projects? Have any regeneration projects failed or been cancelled as a consequence of this transfer of responsibilities?
• The Cabinet Secretary envisaged that Regional Advisory Boards would provide a link between local, regional and national delivery. How is this working in practice and what links have been provided?
• What advantages has the establishment of Skills Development Scotland brought in terms of the delivery of the skills agenda and have there been any difficulties?
• How will services be protected in light of any planned further restructuring exercise within Scottish Enterprise and/or Highlands and Islands Enterprise?

EDAS Media and Government Monitoring Briefing - July 2010 via @constantcontact

2010-08-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

EDAS Media and Government Monitoring Briefing - July 2010 via @constantcontact

Exam Results Released

2010-08-09T04:06:00.000-07:00

According to the SQA, the pass rates are:

- Advanced Higher - 77.5% (-0.3%
- Higher - 74.6% (+0.4%)
- Intermediate 2 - 79.1% (+1.0%)
- Intermediate 1 - 72.7% (-0.7%)
- Standard Grade overall 98.5% (no change) – of which 46.6% (+0.7%) achieved Credit level, 40.3% (-0.5%) achieved General level and 11.6% (-0.1%) achieved Foundation level
- Access 3 – 90.9% (+3.6%)
- Access 2 – 62.8% (-0.7%)

The pass rate for Higher's is a new record.

Minister for Enterprise Jim Mather MSP

2010-08-09T03:46:00.001-07:00

One of the Scottish Government's most active Minister's continues to blog about his industry and area sessions he organises. To date, Mr Mather has ran over 10 sessions.

You can read more about his blog here.

Independent Budget Review

2010-08-09T03:30:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, the IBR is a report which will dominate the news for quite some time. If you were on holiday when its was published you can tch up with the info below.

Recommendations include:

• "subjecting all services to scrutiny and comparative prioritisation, without an overridingpresumption of protection for any of the major services;
• discontinuing the current council tax freeze, which does not appear sustainable in the
projected economic environment;
• ensuring that future annual efficiency targets across the public sector are no less than 2 per cent per annum;
• further reducing the number of public bodies;
• applying a two-year pay freeze, from 2011-12, as the first essential step to constrain growth in the public sector pay bill;
• immediately implementing a recruitment freeze across the public sector, with exceptions only granted for essential staff posts;
• managing a fall in public sector employment of between approximately 5.7 per cent and 10 per cent by 2014-15, as far as possible through natural wastage;
• reviewing the NHS Distinction Awards scheme, as part of the Fair Pay Review;
• engaging with the Independent Public Services Pension Commission to review public
sector pensions, recognising that changes to current public sector pension arrangements are essential and almost certainly unavoidable;
• undertaking immediate work to review whether all free or subsidised universal services should be retained in their current form, including reviewing eligibility criteria for concessionary travel and free NHS eye examinations, reviewing future arrangements for free personal and nursing care and considering the suspension of the final stage in the planned reduction in prescription charges;
• whether to maintain the current funding arrangements for higher education in Scotland or to implement a scheme similar to that in England, such as tuition fees, or other arrangements such as graduate contributions, taking into account the outcome of the Browne Review;
• revising and building on the role of the Scottish Futures Trust;
• exploring options for changing the status of Scottish Water, possibly to that of a public interest company, which could permit the release of significant capital to the Scottish Government for other projects; and
• developing a longer term strategic view of the future shape and nature of public services.

The Independent Voice of Economic Development in Scotland

2010-03-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

The Economic Development Association (Scotland) (EDAS) is the independent voice of economic development in Scotland.

EDAS is the country’s foremost membership driven association for all organisations and individuals with an interest in economic development.

We aim to facilitate a substantial improvement in the effectiveness of economic development activity in Scotland by helping to raise the knowledge, skills and networks of those involved in all aspects of economic development.

Combined with attractive membership incentives, we continue to evolve and develop our services and activities, which currently include:

Regular events and annual conference
Continuing professional development activities
Networking opportunities with people from a wide range of different geographies and organisations
Online directory of who’s who in economic development
Regular news and information bulletins
Independent and informed policy initiatives
National and international collaborations
With over 3000 members and a positive approach to collaborative working, we encourage your involvement and welcome your input.