Scottish Enterprise Fife to spend £21.3 million in Fife

Scottish Enterprise Press Release, 15 July 2003

Scottish Enterprise Fife will aim to build on the success of last year by spending its budget of £21.3 million in the Kingdom during 2003 and 2004.

The spending represents a nine per cent increase over last year and was outlined ahead of the launch of Scottish Enterprise Fife’s (SE Fife) Local Operating Plan.

The Plan outlines tougher targets for the Local Enterprise Company after it met all its goals for 2002 to 2003 in developing the Fife economy.

This year SE Fife will support more than 2,500 organisations in the Region, examples of which will include supporting Fife’s manufacturing activity, introducing new approaches to delivering workforce development support, helping businesses explore overseas markets and working with new business start-ups to improve their chances of success.

This year, SE Fife is planning to help 604 businesses get started which will represent a rise of more than 10 per cent compared with last year.

As well as businesses, education was a major focus last year and more than 3,000 people were involved with Modern Apprenticeships, Skill Seekers or other types of training which was aimed at enhancing employment or career development prospects. This figure included 186 adults who entered training initiatives from disadvantaged areas. SE Fife will be looking to nearly double that figure to 360 in the year ahead and keep the overall number of people training on the up.

As well as specific numerical targets, SE Fife will continue its work towards its strategic priorities, which include Business Development; Rosyth and the Continental ferry link; St Andrews World Class, and, a new priority, the development of Central Fife.

Work will continue on developing the potential of the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry, which is already playing a catalytic role in the overall regeneration of Rosyth. SE Fife will be looking to support new road access arrangements in and around Rosyth with related economic benefits.

The vision of establishing St Andrews as a world class destination will be developed by focusing specifically on golf and golf tourism; other types of tourism in the area, and technology-based development in association with St Andrews University.

And, in addition, SE Fife will work with Fife Council to develop the economy of Central Fife after developing an action plan which is currently in the process of consultation.

Joe Noble, chief executive, SE Fife, said: “Our 2002 to 2003 year was encouraging, despite difficulties in the global economy, and I am pleased that our activities have had such a positive impact on the Fife economy.

“We have been set some very ambitious targets to try and build on that success but we have a good team here at SE Fife and with our partners in the public and private sectors I am confident we are in good shape to meet these goals.

“As we start more and more businesses every year, I would hope the prosperity of Fife will increase and, as a greater number of people are able to access employment after receiving training, their standard of living will improve.”

All this work is in line with the Scottish Executive’s Smart, Successful Scotland strategy which aims to develop the Scottish economy by focusing on Growing Businesses, Global Connections and Learning and Skills.