MINUTES OF THE THIRTy-EIGHTH meeting

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FORUM, 12 FEBRUARY 2009

STORMONT HOTEL

Present: See Annex 1.

Apologies: Aideen McGinley, Stephen Kingon, Peter McNaney, Professor Peter Gregson, Patricia McKeown

1 WELCOME, APOLOGIES AND MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

1.1 Members were welcomed to the 38^th meeting of the EDF. The Chair observed that this was a hugely important time for the Northern Ireland economy, with the UK officially in recession, and as such there needed to be a focus on what steps could be taken to help in economy at this time.

1.2 The Chair also welcomed Rotha Johnston from Invest NI and John McGrillen from Down District Council who were deputising for Stephen Kingon and Peter McNaney respectively.

1.3 The Chair also advised that minutes of the plenary meeting on 4 December had been agreed by Members, by email, and posted to the EDF website.

2      MATTERS ARISING

Progress on December Action Points

2.1 The Chair referred Members to Paper 2 which outlined the progress against action points from the previous plenary meeting.

2.2 Catherine Bell, DEL, advised members that, in relation to the action point for a group insurance scheme for small businesses offering apprenticeships, the operational guidelines had been revised to remove any ambiguity for employers.

3 EDF SUB-GROUP ON ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

3.1 The Chair invited Brian Ambrose to present the EDF sub-group’s paper on proposals to address the economic downturn. Referring to the Oxford Economics paper on the short-term prospects for the NI economy, Brian Ambrose said that the paper reiterated that there was now a strong consensus that there would be negative growth and up to 20k jobs lost in 2009. It was against this backdrop that the sub-group had developed proposals to address the downturn. He also reminded Members that, given the very limited timeframe within which the sub-group had worked, the list of proposals tabled was not intended to be a comprehensive blueprint.

3.2 Referring to the summary paper on prioritised proposals, Brian Ambrose highlighted a number of key priorities which the sub-group felt could help in the short term. These included: progress in relation to the ISNI Programme, which would provide visibility for industry on what was being done in the short-term; the need for credible property valuations to stimulate the housing market – specifically entry level properties; support for the local construction sector through a maintenance programme for roads, schools and hospitals; and a refocussed tourism marketing campaign to exploit the currently favourable exchange rate position.

3.3 The Chair thanked the sub-group for their work to date and informed Members that she had already passed a copy of their paper to the First and Deputy First Ministers and the Finance Minister for information.

3.4 Peter Bunting, speaking on behalf of the Trade Union representatives, raised a number of concerns with the report, including the absence of any reference to the manufacturing sector in the list of proposals and the lack of trade union representation on the sub-group, the latter comment being echoed by Seamus McAleavey in respect of the voluntary and community sector, and Wilfred Mitchell in respect of the FSB. Seamus McAleavey made the point that the lack of representation on the sub group led inevitably to no mention or consideration in the papers of the impact of the downturn on the voluntary and community sector which employs some 28,000 people in Northern Ireland. In response, Brian Ambrose said that the sub-group had been asked to provide a viewpoint from the business sector and that the number of representatives in the sub-group had been limited to ensure that agreement could be reached in the very narrow timescales within which they were operating. Furthermore, the sub-group had been mindful of what realistically could be achieved in the short-term given the available resources and likely delivery of some proposals.

3.5 Conor Murphy highlighted that it was important to ensure that there was a balance struck between stimulating economic activity and easing the pressures on ordinary people. In terms of his own Department’s remit, he added that major infrastructure projects were already underway, but that the need to follow statutory processes meant that progress was not always visible.

3.6 The Chair asked the Trade Union, Voluntary Sector and FSB to provide any additional views they may have on measures that could be taken to address the economic downturn.

ACTION: Trade Union, NICVA and FSB to provide a paper on their proposals to assist business in the downturn, to EDF Secretariat within 3 weeks of meeting.

4 NI EXPORTS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

4.1 Ann McGregor provided an overview of the paper on NI Exports. She explained that there had been several previous studies on this subject, and the same issues were still evident. These include a lack of desire to export and the perceived complexity and appropriateness of existing support systems.

4.2 She proposed that a small working group should be established which would report back to the Plenary on how barriers to exporting should be prioritised and what actions were necessary to address these barriers. Bill McGinnis would chair the working group, with secretariat support to be provided by the Chamber of Commerce, and the group would report back to the EDF Plenary in 6 weeks.

4.3 Views were sought from EDF members. Rotha Johnston suggested that there need to be a practical approach taken to this issue, with views being sought from real businesses. She added that communication was key, particularly in the current economic climate, and small businesses in particular needed to know what information and support was available.

4.4 Responding to a suggestion from John McGrillen that local government representation on the working group would be beneficial, the Chair agreed that partnership was needed and suggested that, while there was a desire to limit the size of the working group, the sub group could invite others to feed into the process to ensure that their views were captured.

4.5 Sir Reg Empey indicated his support for the group, adding that training was a key issue in relation to exports and, as such, he was happy to be consulted with, with a view to identifying if any additional programmes were required.

ACTION: Sub-group to be established as proposed, with aim of reporting back to EDF in advance of next Plenary meeting in June 2009.

5 FORWARD LOOK/ JUNE 2009 MEETING

5.1 Referring to future agenda items, the Chair indicated that a paper from the Exports sub-group, as well as a progress report on the EDF sub-group on the economic downturn would be appropriate agenda items for the next EDF Plenary meeting in June 2009.

5.2 Rotha Johnston mentioned that a Digital Britain report on infrastructure development may be updated by June so this could be a potential agenda item. In addition, Joanne Stuart indicated that the STEM Review was to be published in the next few weeks. It was agreed that these items might be considered for a future meeting.

ACTION: Members to provide EDF Secretariat with other suggested agenda items, to allow agenda to be confirmed in advance of next meeting.

6      ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Press Release

6.1 It was agreed that it would be appropriate to issue a press release following the meeting to note the report of the EDF sub-group on the economic downturn.

ACTION: EDF Secretariat to agree wording of press release with Brian Ambrose and clear through the appropriate channels.

Date of next meeting

Members were asked to confirm their availability to the EDF Secretariat for future Plenary meetings in 2009. The next meeting has been provisionally arranged for Thursday 18 June 2009.

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ANNEX 1

EDF MEETING – 12 FEBRUARY 2009: ATTENDEES

Arlene Foster	DETI Minister
Sir Reg Empey	DEL Minister
Conor Murphy	DRD Minister
Brian Ambrose	CBI
Joanne Stuart	IoD
Bob Barbour	Centre for Competitiveness NI
Ann McGregor	NI Chamber of Commerce
Bro McFerran	NI Chamber of Commerce
Wilfred Mitchell	FSB
Ian Crowe	Londonderry Chamber of Commerce
Jim McCusker	NIC/ICTU
Tom Gillen	NIC/ICTU
Peter Bunting	NIC/ICTU
Seamus McAleavey	NICVA
Bob Stronge	NICVA
Trevor Neilands	Further Education
Prof Richard Barnett	Higher Education - UU
Prof Gerry McCormac	Higher Education - QUB
John Gilliland	Ulster Farmers’ Union
Bill McGinnis	NI Skills and Employment Adviser
Rotha Johnston	Invest NI
John McGrillen	Down District Council

Officials

Stephen Quinn	DETI
Graeme Hutchinson	DETI
Tony Simpson	DETI
Andrew Crawford	Special Advisor to DETI Minister
Glynis Aiken	PS Arlene Foster
Catherine Bell	DEL
Mark McConville	PS Sir Reg Empey
Fiona McCausland	DETI
Mike Thompson	DRD
Mike Brennan	DFP
Leo O’Reilly	DFP
Will Haire	DE

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ANNEX 2

ACTION POINTS AGREED AT 12 FEBRUARY 2009 PLENARY

ISSUE	ACTIONS ARISING	LEAD RESPONSIBILITY	TIMESCALE
Economic Downturn	Trade Union, NICVA and FSB to provide a paper on their proposals to assist business in the downturn, to EDF Secretariat within 3 weeks of meeting.	Trade Union, NICVA and FSB	By 5 March 2009
NI Exports	Sub-group to be established, with aim of reporting back to EDF in advance of next Plenary meeting in June 2009.	NI Chamber of Commerce	By 26 March 2009
June 2009 Meeting	Members to provide EDF Secretariat with suggested agenda items, to allow agenda to be confirmed in advance of next meeting.	EDF Members	By end of April 2009
Press Release	EDF Secretariat to agree wording of press release with Brian Ambrose and clear through the appropriate channels.	EDF Secretariat	By 13 February 2009
Date of 2009 meetings	Members were asked to confirm their availability to the EDF Secretariat for future Plenary meetings in 2009	EDF Members	By end of February 2009