Minutes of Forum meeting

Apologies: Angela Smith, Shaun Woodward, Peter Bunting, Michael McGuckin, Patricia McKeown, Lord Rana, John Gilliland, Lawrence Smyth, Andrew McCormick

1.1 Mr Robinson welcomed those present and thanked Michael Maguire for hosting the meeting at IOD’s Ulster Reform Club.

1.2 Mr Robinson noted the apologies and welcomed Wilfred Mitchell to his first meeting of the Forum. He also introduced Graeme Hutchinson who had joined DETI to head-up the Department’s Economics Division.

1.3 The minutes of the meeting held on 2 March 2005 were agreed with some minor amendments.

ACTION: Secretariat to make agreed changes to minutes for 2 March 2005 EDF meeting before they are published to the Forum’s website.

Matters Arising

1.4 Mr Robinson introduced Leo O’Reilly, DFP and asked him to update members on the development of the Economic Strategy for NI. Mr O’Reilly explained that the regional strategy would be consistent with the Government’s approach to promoting economic growth and development across regions of the UK and would be aligned to the Economic Vision. He explained that the focus of the strategy would be on the actions and interventions that the Government could take (including public expenditure interventions) to create an environment for promoting long tem prosperity and growth in the NI economy and would be complementary to the work of EDF. He went on to advise that it was intended that a first draft of the strategy would be developed by the Autumn.

ACTION: DFP to provide an update on the development of the Economic Strategy for the September meeting of EDF.

1.5 Seamus McAleavey advised members that the MTSPs Sub-group had not met since the last EDF meeting. It was noted that the work of this Group had been overtaken by the work to develop and commence implementation of the Economic Vision. During discussion it was noted that the value of the MTSPs work to date should be captured and it was agreed that the Group should meet at least one more time to consider how the revised MTSPs framework might be utilised to support the work of the Vision Sub-groups.

ACTION: MTSPs Sub-group to provide an update of its work for the September meeting of EDF.

1.6 In response to a query about the fiscal incentives research project, members were advised that research on levels of R&D expenditure by NI companies would be completed in August, with a view to having a draft report at the end of September.

ACTION: DETI Economists to provide an update on the fiscal incentives research project for the September EDF meeting.

2.1 Mr Robinson reminded members that, at the meeting of the Sub-group Chairs on 22 April, it had been accepted, if the Groups were to identify and prioritise key issues by September 2005, their membership must be stable and maintained to an appropriate level. In addition, he outlined what had been agreed on 22 April: re the role and ‘modus operandi’ of the Sub-groups: -

– The chair of each Sub-group would be a serving member of EDF and membership would be consist of EDF members (not deputies) and senior representatives of key Government Departments, with a specific interest in the Sub-group area;

– If they so wish, Sub-groups might also co-opt a small number of non-EDF members to attend meetings. It was expected that co-opted individuals would bring particular specialist knowledge or skills in relation to the issues being explored by the Sub-group.

– In addition, any serving member of EDF might attend any Sub-group meeting should they wish to engage in discussion on a specific topic. In such circumstances, the EDF member should advise the Sub-group chair of their interest in attending these meetings.

ACTION: Secretariat to advise EDF members of the dates of Sub-group meetings and ensure these are on the EDF website.

3.1 Mr Robinson invited the Chairs of the Sub-groups to update members on the work progressed to date.

3.2 David Dobbin, Chair of the Innovation Sub-group reported that the Sub-group had met on 24 May and a further meeting was scheduled for 27 June. He explained that the Sub-group intended to focus on identifying “important gaps” so that the Forum might add value to the work already underway. The Group had agreed that further thought was required re feeding the outputs from each of the Vision Sub-groups back to EDF.

3.3 Mr Dobbin went on to outline the issues identified by the Sub-group as requiring further consideration and which may form part of their recommendations. These included development of innovation agendas for the further education and the tradeable services sectors, a roadmap for the agri-food sector and measures of innovation in Northern Ireland. He also advised that Chris Conway from Nortel had been co-opted as a member of the Sub-group and that Anne Conaty, Head of DETI’s Innovation Policy Unit would sit in at future meetings.

3.4 It was recognised that DEL involvement was critical in a number of these issues: it was agreed that further DEL representation would be invited to Sub-group meetings when appropriate.

3.5 In Lord Rana’s absence, Seamus McAleavey, Deputy Chair of the Enterprise Sub-group reported progress by the Enterprise Sub-group. He advised that the Sub-group had held its first meeting on 20 May and that further meetings were scheduled for 21 June and 25 July.

3.6 Mr McAleavey went on to outline the issues identified by the Sub-group at its first meeting and advised that the Group would further examine the issues identified and would also consult with industry on enterprise issues. The issues identified included the need for a culture change, an evaluation of Invest NI’s Accelerating Entrepreneurship Strategy, outreach work to inform businesses of the services available to them and the barriers to business growth.

3.7 Michael Maguire, Chair of the Skills Sub-group advised that the Skills Sub-group had met on 13 May and 7 June, with the next meeting arranged for 5 September 2005.

3.8 Dr Maguire explained that the Group had undertaken a significant exercise to gather information on skills in NI which had included a presentation on DEL’s skills strategy and an audit of the organisations involved in skills provision in NI. From this work, the Group had identified careers guidance and education, Costello Report implementation and management and leadership initiatives as key issues to concentrate on initially. He advised that DEL was committed to providing further information on these issues and to ensuring alignment between the Vision and the skills strategy.

3.9 Jim McCusker, Chair of the Infrastructure Sub-group reported that the Infrastructure Sub-group had met on 17 May and, based on the target areas identified in the Vision and aspects identified by the MTSPs Sub-group, a number of areas had been identified for further work. These included barriers to uptake of broadband, streamlining public sector procedures, (e.g. planning / procurement) and road priority for commercial traffic. Mr McCusker also advised that the Sub-group had considered energy issues but members agreed that there would be limitations on EDF adding value as there were already a number of projects underway.

3.10 During general discussion about the work of the Sub-groups it was agreed that all four sub-groups should review all issues identified to date to ensure consistency with the Vision objectives for their Sub-group interests.

4.1 Mr Robinson reminded members that, at the EDF Away-Day in February 2005 and at the March 2005 EDF meeting, it had been agreed that members would be more involved in setting the agendas for Forum meetings. It was also agreed that the Chairs of the Forum’s Sub-groups would together form a Business Committee to make recommendations on future agendas. He went on to advise that, as the Sub-groups had only just been established, the Secretariat had taken the lead role in preparing the agenda for June, although the draft agenda had been agreed by the Sub-group Chairs.

4.2 Members discussed the mechanism for setting future EDF agendas and were content that the Sub-groups would, in future, feed agenda items through their Chairs to the Secretariat to co-ordinate future agendas.

ACTION: Secretariat to ensure that “Future Agenda Items” is included in the agenda, under AOB, for all future EDF meetings.

5.1 Mr Robinson reminded members that, at the EDF Away-Day in February 2005 and again at the March EDF meeting, members had agreed that they would maintain engagement with representatives of the main local political parties, no less frequently than every six months, or as required.

5.2 It was agreed that the economic spokespersons from the main local political parties would be invited to join members at the next meeting of EDF, scheduled for 14 September 2005.

ACTION: Secretariat to invite the economic spokepersons from the main local political parties to be invited to the September 2005 EDF meeting.

6.1 Mr Robinson reminded members that, at the March EDF meeting, members had agreed on the need to develop the ways in which the Forum communicates with the media.

6.2 The discussion which ensued revolved around the Forum’s key messages, viz,

– EDF represents a broad cross section of social partners which have come together to address key economic issues of common concern and in communicating the emphasis should be on consensus and co-operation

– EDF is adding value – the partnership is offering solutions to address long-term economic development challenges (it is not a meaningless talking shop).

6.3 In order to get these messages across members suggested that further dissemination of the Forum’s work was required by member organisations, for example, references to the Forum’s work in members’ newsletters, press releases etc. It was also suggested that the timing of EDF messages was important and that communication with the media should be concentrated on key issues to ensure that it was news worthy.

ACTION: Secretariat to prepare an outline communication strategy paper for the September 2005 EDF meeting.

7.1 Leo O’Reilly, Department of Finance and Personnel explained that the position with regards to the NI budget for 2005-06 remained as published in September 2004. DFP expected that there would be few resources available in-year for re-allocation between Departments. He also explained that the budget for 2006-07 and beyond would be considered by Ministers during the 2005 budget process.

7.2 Members were concerned about Invest NI’s budget position and, in particular, the working of the Industrial Investment Concordat and Invest NI resources. It was agreed that DETI would convey, to the Minister, members concerns in this regard.

7.3 Members noted written progress reports covering DRD’s Regional Transportation Strategy and DETI Key Issues.

7.4 Mr Robinson reminded members that, at the March EDF meeting, members had agreed that a press release would not necessarily issue on the day of the Forum’s meeting.

7.5 Members discussed the issue of a press release for the June meeting and it was agreed that, in view of the short time since the establishment of the Vision Sub-groups and the limited progress in the work schedule, the usual quarterly press release was unnecessary.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FORUM MEETING – 15 JUNE 2005

ATTENDEES

Bruce Robinson	Deputy Chairman

Attendee	Organisation

David Dobbin	CBI
Michael Maguire	IOD
Bob Barbour	CforC
Fabian Monds	Invest NI
Frank Hewitt	NICCI
Clarke Black	Ulster Farmers’ Union
Tom Gillen	NIC/ICTU
Jim McCusker	NIC/ICTU
John Mann	Higher Education
Raymond Mullan	Further Education
Seamus McAleavey	NICVA
Paul Roberts	Ashton Centre (shadowing S McAleavey as part of a MSSc degree course)
Anne O’Reilly	NICVA
Wilfred Mitchell	FSB
Will Haire	DEL
Doreen Brown	DRD
Leo O’Reilly	DFP
Wilfie Hamilton	DETI
Graeme Hutchinson	DETI
Stephen Moore	DETI
Helen McConkey	DETI