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Economy, Planning & Employability Services

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

REPORT 2016/17

Contact:

Lauren Bennett

Assistant Economic Advisor

[email protected]

Economic Activity Report 2016/17

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fife faces many longstanding socio-economic issues that have impacted on the performance of the local economy. Fife has higher unemployment and youth unemployment rates than the Scottish average, a growing obsolescence of many industrial estates and industrial property stock, an increasing pressure on town centres, and a lower rate of business start-ups than the Scottish average. A major challenge for Fife is tackling these issues against a background of economic uncertainty and the implications of the EU referendum. Despite these continuing challenges, Fife Council’s Economy, Planning & Employability Services (EPES) has made many achievements over the last year:

• Over 1,000 people were supported into employment or self-employment through the Employability Pathway.

• Over 4,700 students participated in Culture of Enterprise activities.

• The new Fife’s Economic Strategy 2017-2027 was launched, setting out how we will work together, with the Fife Economy Partnership and Opportunities Fife Partnership, to achieve stronger, sustainable and more resilient economic growth for Fife which is shared by all.

• The Fife Task Force helped to fund several projects in mid Fife during 2016/17 including the Business Growth Programme, an Entrepreneurial Leadership Programme and the new Enterprise Hub Fife - which opened in Glenrothes in March 2017.

• In late 2016, Lochgelly was named Scotland’s Most Improved Town at the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF) awards.

• Fife is now a World Host Destination with over 100 businesses World Host accredited and nearly 800 individuals have undertaken training.

In addition, some structural changes were made during 2016/17, including:

• The Fife Economy Partnership was reviewed to align it with the priorities of the new Fife’s Economic Strategy.

• Fife Economy Partnership delivery groups were launched for each priority, including the Employer Engagement Delivery Group which engages with businesses in Fife to ensure the workforce meets skills demand.

Moving forward, EPES will continue to deliver key business and employability projects in Fife. This report provides a snapshot of these activities in 2016/17 outlined against the challenges and will provide a brief summary of the next steps for EPES in 2017/18.


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KEY ACHIEVEMENTS 2016/17

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INTRODUCTION Economy, Planning & Employability Services leads the economic regeneration agenda for Fife

Council. The Service’s Business & Employability Portfolio has responsibility for delivering the

Council’s economic development and employability activities. There are three teams within the

Business & Employability Portfolio: Economic Development; Economy, Tourism & Town Centres; and

Employability & Employer Engagement.

Activities undertaken by other portfolios in the Service relevant to ‘Making Fife the Best Place to do

Business’ are also included in this overview.

Activities carried out by the Service during 2016/17 are reported in line with the five sections of the

Fife Economic Strategy 2013-2023:

The report concludes by outlining the challenges and next steps for 2017/18, as well as some of the

activities that have already been completed so far.

Fife’s Economic Strategy

A new Fife’s Economic Strategy 2017-2027 was released in

March 2017. It is a joint strategy between the Fife Economy

Partnership, Opportunities Fife Partnership and Fife Council.

This report outlines next steps for EPES under the new

Strategy’s priorities: inclusive growth, investment,

internationalisation and innovation. These priorities will be

used to report on activities in next year’s Economic Activity

Report.

1. Increasing People’s Employability and

Skills

2. A Competitive Business Location

3. Growing Fife’s Businesses

4. Investing in Key Sectors

5. Making Fife the Best Place to do Business


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PARTNERSHIP WORKING Some of the Service’s activities are delivered through the following three strategic partnerships where

Economy, Planning & Employability Services represents the Council on and supports the work carried

out by the partnerships.

Fife Economy Partnership

The Fife Economy Partnership is a business-led

group which brings together people from Fife’s

private and public sector organisations. As part of

the Fife Community Planning Partnership, the Fife Economy Partnership identifies and takes forward

policies and activities to help achieve sustainable economic growth in Fife. The Partnership leads on

the delivery of the economic outcomes for the Fife Community Plan 2011-2020.

Having undergone a review in 2016, a new Partnership structure was established as below.

Throughout the year, the Partnership worked jointly with Opportunities Fife Partnership and Fife

Council to produce the new Fife’s Economic Strategy 2017-2027 which sets out how all the partners

will work together and with the Scottish Government, national agencies and city region partners over

the next ten years to achieve sustainable and fair economic growth for Fife. Delivery Groups have

been established in order to drive forward the priorities of the strategy and the partnership will monitor

performance towards achieving these.


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Opportunities Fife Partnership

The Opportunities Fife Partnership helps unemployed

people into work by providing employability support and

training activities.

Four delivery groups oversee these activities, specialising in supporting the needs of unemployed

adults, young people and clients with health and disability issues. A fourth delivery group is being

established to co-ordinate to activity for the Developing the Young Workforce programme. This group

will co-ordinate business engagement activities to increase training and job opportunities for all of the

priority client groups. In July 2016, Opportunities Fife Partnership launched a new website.

Fife Tourism Partnership

This business-led partnership supports all areas of

tourism in Fife and the implementation of the Fife

Tourism Strategy 2014-2024. It aims to position Fife as

a first class tourism destination by 2024, and increase visitor spend by 33% to £653.4m and the

number of jobs from 11,600 to 12,500.

The Partnership’s six Local Tourist Associations (LTAs) work collaboratively with the businesses in

their areas to deliver the actions within the Fife Tourism Strategy and to develop local marketing

initiatives. A number of themed groups also take forward specific initiatives. These include the Fife

Golf Partnership, Fife Food Network, Accessible Fife, Forth Bridges Forum, Cruise Forth, Outdoor

Fife, Fife Pilgrim Way, Business Tourism and Film Tourism Groups. All of these groups are led by the

private sector and work closely with the LTAs.

Key achievements over the past year include:

• The launch of the Forth Bridge Ambassadors.

• A new business group established to take advantage of the Outlander TV series.

• Fife is now an accredited World Host Destination.

Fife Golf Partnership

The Fife Golf Partnership, established in November 2011, promotes golf

courses and related businesses in Fife. It works with Fife Golf courses,

accommodation providers, places to eat, training providers, golf travel

trade and industry trade associations to develop and improve the market

position of Fife as a must-visit golf destination.


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INCREASING PEOPLE’S EMPLOYABILITY AND

SKILLS Fife’s unemployment and youth unemployment rates have been consistently higher than the Scottish

averages for the last 10 years. Since 2013, the gap has started to decrease, but there is still further

work to do especially around youth unemployment which is still 0.4% above the Scottish average

(0.9%).

In March 2017, there were 1,605 fewer people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) than in March

2016. The overall Fife claimant rate (1.8% of the working age population) is still higher than the

Scottish (1.5%) and UK (1.3%) averages. There are still disparities across Fife Council’s area

committees. A breakdown of JSA claimant count rates over the past ten years in each of Fife’s area

committees is shown in the below chart.

Reducing youth unemployment remains a key target for the Opportunities Fife Partnership and Fife

Council. At March 2017, the number of JSA claimants aged between 16 and 24 had fallen by 2%

since March 2016, reducing the rate of youth unemployment to 1.3% or 560 young people.

Chart 1: Jobseekers Allowance Claimant Count Rates by Area Committee, 2007-2017

Source: Claimant Count, NOMIS © Crown Copyright

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Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Glenrothes

Kirkcaldy Levenmouth North East Fife

South West Fife Scotland

KEY CHALLENGES

• Fulfilling the increased demand for work placement and job opportunities due to the

introduction of the Developing the Young Workforce programme and additional

welfare reforms.

• Reducing the number of 18-24 year olds in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance and

Universal Credit.

• Addressing the need for more science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)

skills to support technical job roles.


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ACTIVITY UPDATE

The Employability team delivers vocational training programmes and a range of initiatives designed to

help Fife residents improve their skills and overcome barriers to work.

Helping People into Employment

During 2016/17, 2,569 clients were registered on the Fife Employability Pathway. The Employability

Pathway is part funded by the East of Scotland Investment Fund (ESIF) 2014-2020 and provides

support for people with multiple barriers to employment, who are the most disadvantaged in the

labour market. This year 1,101 clients were supported into employment or self-employment and a

further 217 were supported into full time education.

The Opportunities Fife Partnership commissioned three programmes that support clients with health

and disability issues: Working Well – a free and confidential service for people living in Fife with

disabilities or health issues; Individual Placement Support (IPS) – specifically supports those with

severe and enduring mental health problems; and Progress Fife – supports disabled people find and

stay in employment, During 2016/17, these programmes registered 209 new clients and supported

146 clients to access employment. These clients are benefitting from longer term, individually tailored

interventions.

Increasing Youth Employment

The Fife Jobs Contract supported 221 young people into employment during 2016/17.

The Economic Development and Employability & Employer Engagement teams work with support

from Opportunities Fife Partnership to organise and deliver a number of programmes for young

people in Fife including:

• Over 4,747 young people took part in Culture of Enterprise activities which were supported by

84 businesses during 2016/17. Some of the projects included the Enterprise Game, Raytheon

Quadcopter, and 4 to Fortune.

• The Talent Academy which supported ten S6 pupils from Balwearie High School, Kirkcaldy to

create their own production company and gained valuable enterprise experience by

presenting their products at the Lochgelly Centre and the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.

• 4 to Fortune saw S2 pupils at St Columba’s High School,

Dunfermline grow an initial £4 seed fund as big as they could

over a four week period. This programme is now being rolled

out to all primary schools in Fife as part of the Culture of

Enterprise engagement with the Developing the Young

Workforce (DYW) agenda.

• The Adam Smith Enterprise Academy opened in spring 2017. The project will deliver a retail

showcase and education centre in Kirkcaldy town centre, including a retail academy to

support skills development for retail, tourism and hospitality. The project, led by the Adam

Smith Global Foundation, will be delivered by a partnership including Fife Council, Fife Task

Force, Fife College and Fife Cultural Trust.

• The Opportunities for All: Better Engaged programme is a community engagement

programme which tracks clients, engages with them and supports them to access additional

support on the Fife Employability Pathway in order to support young people into positive

destinations.


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A COMPETITIVE BUSINESS LOCATION The Council delivers property and regeneration activities that focus on modernising Fife’s economic

assets, increasing the supply of employment land and narrowing the gap between Fife’s most and

least deprived areas.

Maintaining an effective supply of land and property to capture large investment projects and sustain

levels of investment and jobs in the region remains a major challenge for Fife. This process continues

to be supported by the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, £0.915m of which was

allocated to Fife in 2016/17.

Additionally, there continues to be more settlements in Fife with an insufficient supply of employment

land. In 2016, 9 settlements had an insufficient supply of employment land compared with 10 in 2015

(see below). Also in 2016, there were more settlements with a sufficient supply of employment land

than in 2015, with 7 settlements in 2016 compared with 5 settlements in 2015. The remainder of

settlements had limited employment land available.

Source: Employment Land Audit 2016

Another major challenge facing Fife is the growing obsolescence of many of its industrial estates. The

service is leading on proposals for the regeneration of Queensway Industrial Estate, Glenrothes and

Hillend & Donibristle Industrial estate in Dalgety Bay. There is a growing shortage of attractive

modern industrial and commercial property and serviced employment land, which is now hindering

attempts to attract new businesses and investment. New developments funded through the Fife

Taskforce and Longannet Task Force at Queensway, Glenrothes and Kincardine respectively are

helping to provide more new, high quality business space.

In Fife, as elsewhere, towns are under increasing pressure from a complex range of socio-economic

and cultural factors with consumers changing their shopping patterns. The importance of retail in town

centres has diminished, leading to declining footfall, limited private sector investment, dilapidation and

high and persistent levels of vacant premises. The work of Fife Council’s Town Centre Development

Unit within the Economy, Tourism and Town Centres team is focused on Fife’s main towns and district

centres. Over the last 3 years, the Unit has levered in over £12 million of external funding.


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ACTIVITY UPDATE

Invest in Fife Team

During 2016/17, the Invest in Fife team received 79

investment enquiries and secured 9 active inward investment projects. £2.518m of Fife Council

supported inward investment created 968 new jobs and safeguarded 113 existing jobs.

Next Generation Broadband

The Scottish Government’s Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme, supported by

£2.8 million of Fife Council investment, aims to ensure that Fife’s broadband coverage and speeds

match or exceed national averages. Since the start of the project, the percentage of Fife premises

with access to fibre broadband has increased from 69.2% to 94.5% (as of end of December 2016).

This programme is predominantly fibre to cabinet delivery.

KEY CHALLENGES

• Regenerating and revitalising Fife’s key town centres.

• Regeneration of Fife’s ageing industrial estates.

• Increasing the supply of immediately available employment land and modern

commercial property.

• Completion of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme supporting

private sector investment in Fife’s mobile and WiFi networks.


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City Deals

The Service has led on the development of City Region Deal proposals with partner local authorities

for both the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region and the Tay Cities Region.

The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Deal has secured a £1.1bn deal from the UK and

Scottish Governments and is currently in the negotiation stage with both Governments. The deal

provides an opportunity to improve the regional economy’s productivity and inclusive growth and

deliver an economic step-change in Fife through investments. Heads of Terms for this deal were

agreed in July 2017.

More than £1.8bn of planned investment forms the basis of the Tay Cities Deal which could create up

to 15,000 jobs for the region. A proposition was submitted by the Tay Cities partners to both UK and

Scottish Governments in March 2017. The ambition of the Tay Cities region is to have one of the most

productive knowledge-led economies in Europe, ensuring that in becoming smarter, the region also

becomes fairer.

Employment Land

The Council completed site servicing work at Queensway, Glenrothes, including the development of

new business units, and acquired sites at Muiredge, Buckhaven and Westway, Dalgety Bay. Sites

have been cleared, remediated and developed in Cowdenbeath, Thornton, Glenrothes, Tayport and

Methil through the use of the 2016/17 allocation from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict

Land Fund.

Business Property

Currently 92% of business properties owned by Fife Council are occupied. 94% of tenants were

satisfied or very satisfied with EPES as their landlord. 100 enquiries were received in relation to the

Service’s Business Property portfolio and 34 businesses secured a lease resulting in the safeguarding

or creation of 232 jobs.

John Smith Business Park, Kirkcaldy

Following its purchase of Iona House, the Council completed the refurbishment of the office

accommodation with grant support from the Fife Task Force. The majority of the building continues to

be occupied by Fife Cultural Trust on a short-term rolling lease, the second floor has been leased to a

major local employer.

The Council sold a 0.6 Ha site to Marston’s who have opened a family pub/restaurant, the Spiral

Weave, in June 2017. Planning consent has also been granted for a 60 bed hotel on an adjacent site.

Inchdairnie Distillery, Glenrothes

A new distillery was officially opened in May 2016. Further phases of development including additional

bonded warehousing are due to be constructed over the next few years representing an overall

investment of circa £8 million and securing highly skilled employment in the local area.


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Enterprise Hub Fife

The new Enterprise Hub Fife, developed by Economic Development, opened

in Glenrothes in May 2017 and is now fully let. Funded by the Fife Task Force,

the Enterprise Hub is designed to provide short-term lets to enterprising

individuals, start-ups with growth aspirations and growing businesses access

to a unique facility which provides flexible workspace, training and business

support services.

Town Centres

Fife Council has delivered capital projects using its Town Centres Fund to pump-prime private and

other public sector investment. Key projects include Leven Civic Hub, Bonnygate Gap Site and Inner

Court development in Cupar, public realm works in Cowdenbeath and the restoration and reuse of the

vacant Cupar Burgh Chambers.

Development work for a new five year built heritage Conservation Area Regeneration

(CARS)/Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) regeneration programme has been undertaken in

Inverkeithing. The CARS/THI programme in Anstruther (2012-2017) was completed in March 2017

and work continues in Cupar (2014- 2019).

The new Fife’s Economic Strategy commits both Fife Council and its partners to adopting the Town

Centre First Principle so that both the public and private sectors give priority to town centre sites.

Fife Council’s Town & Local Centre Capital Fund provided £3 m of investment across Fife’s towns for

2015-18, with nine projects having secured funding from the Fund by the end of 2016/17. A further £5

m has already been secured from external sources.

During 2016/17, Business Gateway Fife’s Town Centre Investment Fund and Business Support Fund

assisted 45 businesses contributing £0.127m worth of funding to invest in projects totalling £0.270m,

forecast to safeguard 161 jobs and create 90 jobs.

Some of the key town centre activities include:

• In Lochgelly, the Town Centre Living Project

created 31 new, affordable, mid-market homes

for rent and Phase one of the St Andrews

Church restoration has started. Business

vacancy rates in the town have halved in the

last four years. The town won two 2016 place-

making awards and was named Scotland’s Most

Improved Town at the Scottish Urban

Regeneration Forum (SURF) Awards 2016.

• Kirkcaldy hosted Scotland’s Towns Conference 2016 which was attended by over 150 local, national, and international delegates, including key policymakers. The £1.2m Adam Smith


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House and Close heritage regeneration project, has been completed in partnership with the Adam Smith Global Foundation. Phase 3 of the High Street Public Realm Project was completed.

• 350 people took part in the successful town centre consultation, Cupar Could Charrette, comprising four days of public surgery and workshops led by Cupar Development Trust in partnership with Fife Council.

• 15 Cowdenbeath High Street businesses signed

up for an innovative Shutter Art Project led by

Fife Council involving Police Scotland, Beath

High School and local businesses. The project’s

artwork has improved the look and feel of the

town at night.

Industrial Estate Regeneration

EPES continued to regenerate Queensway Industrial Estate and is working with Queensway Data

Centres Ltd with the view to develop a major data centre. Funding has been secured from the Fife

Task Force and work commenced on new industrial workshops. Site Q9 has been acquired and

Flexel relocated to premises at Eastfield, Glenrothes.

The Council has also continued to regenerate Hillend and Donibristle Industrial Estate in Dalgety Bay.

It sold a building to a local company who refurbished the property to provide a business centre

providing accommodation for local businesses.

Pilot status has been secured for a Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) initiative at Fife Interchange,

Dunfermline.

Fife Council’s site servicing works at Levenmouth Business Park are nearing completion and initial

marketing of the Park is underway.

Gateway Rosyth

Fife Council, working with Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise,

Scottish Development International, key landowners and major

businesses in the area, continues to deliver and make significant

progress on projects of national and international importance in the

Rosyth Waterfront area. This included:

• Strategic Marketing Activity

The three landowners, Scarborough Muir Group, Babcock International and Forth Ports,

alongside Scottish Enterprise and Fife Council, continued to work on the development of a

promotional strategy for the Waterfront area. To date this has seen:

� Agreement of key promotional messages;

� Development of new overarching brand, Gateway Rosyth;

� Development of a new promotional video;

� Delivery of website and social media activity.


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All five partners have agreed to contribute to a second phase of activity which will support the

delivery of Gateway Rosyth activities in the summer of 2017.

• Queensferry Crossing

Invest in Fife are to run an online campaign to promote the benefits of doing business in Fife

and the major strategic opportunities the area offers to coincide with the opening of the

Queensferry Crossing on 30 August 2017. This will complement work being undertaken by

Transport Scotland, Visit Scotland and the Scottish Government leading up to an official

launch in August 2017.


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GROWING FIFE’S BUSINESSES New business start-ups and the expansion of existing businesses are essential to grow a vibrant

economy.

In 2016, there were 9,760 registered enterprises in Fife – 220 (2.3%) more than in 2015 and 1,470 (or

18%) more than in 2006. This is greater than at any other time since 2000. However, Fife businesses

represent only 5.6% of the Scottish business base, less than Fife’s proportional share of Scotland’s

working age population (6.7% in 2014). Additionally, Fife businesses provide 5.3% of the total

Scottish employment and 5% of the total Scottish business turnover.

Fife has a lower rate of business start-ups compared with other parts of Scotland. In 2015, there were

55 business start-ups per 10,000 of the working age population in Fife compared to the Scottish

average of 64, and whilst Fife’s three year business survival rate is now slightly above the Scottish

average (63.4% compared with 62.8%), it is still considerably lower than the survival rate of the 5th

best performing local authority in Scotland (68.8%).

ACTIVITY UPDATE

Support to new businesses

In 2016/17, Business Gateway Fife helped 541 new businesses to start up through the delivery of

workshops, training, advisory and specialist support services. This is 7.5% less than the previous year

due to loss of referrals from the Department of Work and Pensions and a national re-focus on growing

existing businesses. However, the conversion of early stage growth starts was higher than in previous

years.

Helping existing businesses grow

Business Gateway Fife provided support and advice to 942 businesses in Fife in 2016/17, 4% more

than the previous year. The Fife Task Force is funding an additional two Business Gateway Advisors

over a three year period, focusing on building growth capacity to strengthen Fife’s business base.

Enhanced Business Gateway support has also been provided in Mid Fife and West Fife since April

2016.

The seventh annual Fife Business Week took place from 7-11 November 2016, with around 700

individuals attending the 30 events, seminars and workshops – 160 more people than the previous

year.

The Fife International Partnership continues to provide a one-stop-shop export service to increase the

number of businesses trading overseas. Led by the Economic Development team, the service

provides a single point of contact to the support and advice offered by the Council, Business Gateway

KEY CHALLENGES

• More than 9,000 jobs are needed to exceed the employment levels that existed before

the global economic crisis.

• In Scotland, productivity remains poor and GDP did not grow at all during 2016.

• Too many of Fife’s businesses rely on local markets and do not export.

• Low levels of business start-up and self-employment.


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Fife, Scottish Development International (SDI) and Fife Chamber of Commerce. 197 businesses took

part in the 2017 Fife Trade Survey carried out to identify the services and support businesses need to

increase their trade in the UK and abroad and to aid in the development of international trade work

through City Deals.

Financial Assistance to Businesses

Fife Investment Fund provided grants and loans to 195 new and existing small businesses during

2016/17 – support which is forecast to create 453 additional jobs. In addition, the Fife Investment

Fund awarded 45 grants to town centre businesses, comprising a rolling fund of £0.127m of grant

support contributing to investment projects totalling £0.398m. This equates to £2.12 of private sector

funding for every £1 of public sector investment (or 68% private to 32% public funding) and has

created or supported over 250 jobs. The average grant award value was £2,832.

In 2016/17, four Fife companies received Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) awards totalling

£0.545m which is forecast to create 33 new jobs and safeguard 16 existing jobs.

The Fife Task Force provided £150,000 of financial assistance to Glenrothes Papers Ltd (GPL), a

phoenix company operating from the Tullis Russell site, manufacturing specialist, industrial crepe

paper which employs ten people.

In 2016/17, the East of Scotland Investment Fund (ESIF) provided £100,000 in loan finance to Fife

businesses. In early 2017, the new Business Loans Scotland fund was launched – a fund which

builds on the success of ESIF, the West of Scotland Loan Fund (WSLF) and the South of Scotland

Loan Scheme.

Social Enterprise Development

Economic Development has been working to improve the support available to both new start and

existing social enterprises. In 2016/17, 19 new and 135 existing social enterprises were supported

and a range of new resource tools were developed to assist stakeholders and community groups to

better understand the collective services available to support business creation and development with

a social aim. Furthermore, the Social Enterprise Partnership with Fife Voluntary Action and BRAG has

supported a more effective alignment for customer progression.

Other business support

Through Fife Council’s Market Development Programme, 70 companies took part in learning

journeys, trade visits and exhibitions. The Fife Investment Fund also supported attendance at a

number of UK and International Trade exhibitions for Fife businesses.

256 companies received support from the Supplier Development Programme in Fife. This support is

designed to help companies become more capable of accessing and competing for public sector

procurement contracts. A number of 1-2-1 expert help sessions were delivered to support business

management groups to improve their strategies for contract procurement.

Fife Entrepreneurial Forum

Since established in March 2014, the forum has been meeting on a quarterly basis to share

knowledge and best practice. The events, hosted by the Economic Development Team, have been

organised in association with Entrepreneurial Scotland and aim to stimulate entrepreneurial

leadership and strengthen integration with council activities and priorities.


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Fife Task Force & Longannet Task Force

Fife Council is a partner in the Fife Task Force established in April 2015 following the closure of Tullis

Russell Papermill in Markinch. Since April 2015, £5.5m of a £6m resource allocation from Scottish

Government has now been committed to projects which have been approved as part of the Task

Force.

In October 2016, the Task Force agreed that the emergency workforce response to the Tullis Russell

closure was now complete. The ongoing need for support in cases of further redundancies will

continue to be supported via the Fife Task Force Action Plan on an ongoing basis.

Several projects have been progressed in 2016/17 and delivery will continue through the next few

years as part of the Fife Task Force. Some of these projects are highlighted below:

• A new Enterprise Hub Fife in Glenrothes.

• A Business Growth Programme has provided additional resources to Fife Council and

Business Gateway Fife to enhance the level of business growth activity.

• An Entrepreneurial Leadership Programme offers a business accelerator programme,

available to SMEs across Fife with growth potential. The first phase of the programme

finished in June 2016. Phase 2 is now underway.

• Financial assistance was provided to Tullis Russell Spin-Out (Glenrothes Paper Ltd).

• A number of projects in the Glenrothes Area including hosting part of the Fife Science

Comedy Festivals and funding community projects in Glenrothes (Cadham and Collydean).

Fife Council is also a partner in the Longannet Task Force set up in 2015 following the announcement

of the closure of Longannet Power Station. The Scottish Government confirmed that £2.7m would be

made available from the Economic Stimulus Fund to support projects within Fife, this includes the

creation of an Enterprise Centre in Kincardine and the provision of Industrial Workshops to

accommodate small to medium sized companies within the area.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) are

the lead partners ensuring that workforce needs including training or re-employment are met.

Workforce numbers have reduced on site at Longannet from 236 at the time of closure, to 46 during

decommissioning, and further reduced to 15 staff from January 2017. No further redundancies are

anticipated.

It is proposed that the local authorities (Fife Council, Clackmannanshire Council and Falkirk Council)

will work with respective communities and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) to help shape the

future of the immediate area closest to Longannet Power Station. A charrette is planned for mid-2017,

focusing on Kincardine Town Centre.

Potential future uses for the site are being established by Scottish Power with demolition contractors

appointed. Fife Council and Transport Scotland are continuing to appraise the strategic transport

connections which will improve accessibility and stimulate market interest in the area.


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INVESTING IN FIFE’S KEY SECTORS Fife is predominantly a service-based economy, with the public sector employing over 13,000 people

in 2016. However manufacturing remains an important sector in Fife as the second largest employing

sector, supporting 14% of the region’s jobs and generating 30% of Fife’s business turnover.

Fife continues to prioritise low carbon and energy as a key sector with a strong and growing profile of

low carbon businesses, a range of new site developments and world-class training and research

facilities.

The tourism sector in Fife has seen an increase in tourism GVA by 61.5% from 2008 to 2014, with a

£162.1 million contribution to the Scottish total in 2014. In 2016, the number of jobs in Fife-based

businesses in the tourism sector increased by 8.8% from 10,200 in 2015 to 11,100 in 2016.

ACTIVITY UPDATE

Manufacturing

The Centre for Engineering, Education and Development (CEED) has delivered and is continuing to

deliver quarterly, manufacturing business breakfasts and monthly, Growth 500 workshops in

partnership with Fife Council.

24 companies in Fife undertook manufacturing reviews with Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service

(SMAS) during 2016/17; leading to reduced waste and improved cost, quality and delivery

performance. A range of SMAS events in partnership with Economic Development were supported.

Energy & Low Carbon

Activity is being carried out with Zero Waste Scotland to create a more

circular economy in the engineering and fabrication sectors, maximising

the benefits to local firms in Fife.

Fife Council’s site servicing works at Levenmouth Business Park are

nearing completion and initial marketing of the Park is underway.

Scottish Enterprise and Fife Council are progressing a third phase of

investment on the main Energy Park site which will focus on improving

mooring and marine access and further investment in site infrastructure.

KEY CHALLENGES

• The number of businesses in sectors dependent on public sector investment such as

defence.

• Tackling tourism’s seasonality and jobs, and improving the visitor experience.

• The low price of Brent Crude oil has driven down public sector investment.


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Additionally in Levenmouth, work is underway on the Levenmouth Community Energy Project, which

was awarded over £4 million from the Scottish Government’s Local Energy Challenge Fund. Led by

Bright Green Hydrogen with project partners Fife Council and Toshiba, the project aims to

demonstrate that green hydrogen can tackle two of Scotland’s biggest energy challenges – energy

storage and low carbon transport. In 2016, a fleet of 17 hydrogen vehicles were installed in Methil and

at Fife Council’s vehicle depot at Bankhead in Glenrothes.

Progress on the Glenrothes District Heating Scheme has

been made in 2016/17. A business case has been

developed by Fife Council, RWE and the Scottish

Government’s Local Carbon Infrastructure Transition

Programme (LCITP) for the development of a District

Heating Scheme in the centre of Glenrothes linked to the

RWE Biomass CHP plant. The scheme will supply low

carbon heat to a range of businesses, the public sector

and domestic customers in the centre of Glenrothes.

A capital bid was submitted for the District Heating Scheme to the Scottish Government’s LCITP in

November 2016 for £16.8m funding for the delivery of this project. The project is now successfully

though to the final due diligence stage and stage one of the planning process was lodged in March

2017.

Green Business Fife is a self-sustaining, not-for-profit organisation with over 400 members. In 2016,

Green Business Fife was involved in a number of successful events including a Green Champions

Training course and Innovation in Energy Storage & Systems event which highlighted local energy

storage and renewable energy projects.

Tourism

Following the launch of the Forth Bridge Ambassadors in January 2016, videos have been created to

highlight each ambassador’s passion for the Forth Bridge to help its promotion as a tourist

destination. The Forth Bridges Forum Tourism Project Group has commissioned GL Hearn to develop

a tourism strategy for the Forth Bridges Area.

The Access Fife tourism business group has been encouraging businesses to prepare their own

Access Guides so that disabled visitors know how each business can accommodate their needs.

A business group has been set up to take advantage of the Outlander television series, members

include owners of sites in Fife that appear in the series and tour operators.

The Fife Business Tourism Group represented Fife at four UK trade events in 2016 under the

‘Welcome to Fife’ brand. 311 buyers signed up for further information and a ‘Bid Builder’ section has

been added to welcometofife.com.

In November 2016, the Fife Golf Partnership attended the International Golf Tourism Market in

Mallorca - the largest golf exhibition in the world.

‘Feast of Fife’ - 16 food bloggers from the UK and Ireland attended the Food Bloggers Conference, a

two day event which received excellent social media coverage with over 160 Instagram posts and

1,000 people viewing a ‘Facebook live’ food demonstration by Jamie Scott.

Fife is now a World Host Destination with 107 businesses World Host accredited and nearly 800

individuals having undertaken training.


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There was a 243% increase in the number of individuals visiting the

Welcome to Fife website from 2015/16 to 2016/17. 98,415 individuals

visited the website between April 2016 and the end of March 2017.

During the 2016 Scotland-wide Year of Innovation, Architecture and

Design a dedicated area on the website was developed to showcase

specific sites across Fife. Between April and November 2016 almost

3,000 individuals visited this area of the website.

The website also showcases the new Fife YouTube video #cometolifeinfife which has received over

100,000 social media views across various platforms. The Fife Cultural Trust is also showing the

video in its venues across Fife and businesses have embedded the video into their own websites.

Encouraging Innovation

The Economic Development team is now running a highly successful series of ‘Innovation In’ events

at the Fife Renewables Innovation Centre. The events, which commenced in 2016, have so far

focused on Innovation in Energy Storage and Innovation in Transport Systems. Themed innovation

events focusing on Decommissioning, Offshore Wind and Food and Drink are now under

development.

During 2016/17, 11 business leaders took part in the Fife Entrepreneurial Leadership Programme,

which is designed to help SMEs across Fife with growth potential achieve transformational change.

The programme builds on a pilot which ran in early 2016 and saw 9 business leaders complete the

course. Designed by Fife Council’s Economic Development Team and Edinburgh Napier University,

the programme is funded by the Fife Task Force.

Additionally, Fife Council has been working with the University of St Andrews Knowledge Transfer

Centre to identify new opportunities for encouraging businesses to take advantage of the University’s

expertise in order to gain support for research or product development.

The University is engaged in the development and delivery of Technology Innovation Support for the

Low Carbon Energy Sector. This is based on an Energy Technology Partnership (ETP), an alliance of

12 Scottish universities delivering world-class capability and resources in energy research,

development and demonstration.


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MAKING FIFE THE BEST PLACE TO DO

BUSINESS EPES leads on the delivery of this outcome in the Council Plan 2013-17 and on the implementation of

cross-service projects contained in the Outcome Delivery Plan for Making Fife the Best Place to Do

Business adopted in September 2013.

The Action Plan aims to raise awareness with Fife businesses in public sector procurement

opportunities including Fife Council’s. It also aims to streamline the Council’s online information and

processes available to businesses through Fife Direct. During 2016, an e-building standards portal

went live offering 24/7 access to applicants for a Building Warrant.

ACTIVITY UPDATE

In 2016/17, the Environmental Health Food & Workplace Safety Team gave health and safety and

food safety help and advice to 216 new businesses. Health and safety advice was given to 94 existing

Fife businesses and voluntary organisations.

Two Safer Lone Working Sessions were delivered jointly with Fife Health and Social Care Partnership

and Police Scotland to 97 attendees.

Manual handling and risk awareness sessions were presented to 15 organisations.

Three Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) Elementary Health and Safety

courses were run in conjunction with the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership to 23 Fife

businesses and/or voluntary organisations.

The Duty of Care Team gave advice to 273 businesses about meeting their legal waste

responsibilities, cutting waste disposal costs and lowering the volume of waste sent to landfill. This

also helps businesses reduce their environmental footprint.

In 2016/17 major planning applications were decided within an average of 53.99

weeks. This is 25 weeks slower than the previous year.

66 businesses are now registered on the Fife Trusted Trader Scheme.

The new eBuilding Standards portal was launched in 2016; more than 55% of

applications for building warrants have already been made online.

The Fife Economy Partnership’s website www.fifeeconomypartnership.com has

been revised and relaunched as a Fife Direct mini-site.

KEY CHALLENGES

• Working with Scottish Government to complete the roll out of the Digital Scotland

Superfast Broadband Programme to achieve the best possible coverage in Fife.

Assessing the options for participation in the follow-on Reaching 100 Broadband

programme.

• Securing agreement for the Tay Cities and Edinburgh and South East Scotland City

Deals to develop a long term investment programme in Fife’s economic assets.


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FUTURE CHALLENGES AND NEXT STEPS

ECONOMIC CONTEXT

Forecasts for Scottish growth in GDP are positive but weak for the next three years with rising

inflation, declining confidence and poor investment and net export figures. The Fraser of Allander

Institute suggests that this is less likely due to the oil and gas downturn and the uncertainty of Brexit

and more likely to be due to the economy being stuck in a cycle of low growth, weak investment and

fragile confidence.

Forecasts of GDP growth vary across leading institutions – PWC and the Fraser of Allander Institute

forecast more optimistic growth of 1.3% and 1.2% in 2017 than the EY Scottish ITEM Club’s forecast

of 0.9%. Warnings, however, have emerged that Scotland may be on the brink of recession due to

lack of growth in productivity.

The outcome of the EU Referendum and continuing constitutional uncertainty for Scotland have

impacted on private sector investment confidence. Fife Council has set up a Brexit Business Advisory

Group with representation from Fife businesses to minimise the impact on and maximise the

opportunities for the Fife economy. The group had its first meeting at the end of January 2017.

Yet despite political and economic uncertainty, 62% of the 630 companies account managed by

Scottish Enterprise reported strong performance in March 2017 with an increase in turnover between

the third and final quarter of 2017. The overall results suggest that, despite high levels of uncertainty,

many companies have continued to find growth opportunities (Scottish Enterprise, 2017).

NEXT STEPS

The Council will need to tackle the issues identified in Fife’s Economic Strategy over the next ten

years, namely:

� The scale and pace of technological change.

� The pressing need for investment in Fife’s business infrastructure.

� Transport and digital connectivity.

� The need for growth to be fair and inclusive and tackle the entrenched geographical

disparities in employment and opportunity within Fife, in particular the continuing poor

performance of the economy in Mid-Fife (NB Mid-Fife includes the areas of Glenrothes,

Kirkcaldy, Levenmouth, Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly).

� Youth unemployment and a closer working relationship between education and businesses.

� Changing demands for workforce skills and a need to match supply with demand.

� The importance of a Living Wage and rewarding, secure and satisfying work in reducing

poverty and health inequalities.

Table 2: GDP Forecasts for the Scottish Economy

2017 2018 2019

Fraser of Allander Institute (June 2017) 1.2 1.4 1.6

EY Scottish ITEM Club (Summer 2017) 0.9 0.7 1.1

PWC (March 2017) 1.3 1.1 -


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� Climate change and the continuing shift to a low carbon economy.

A major challenge for the Council over the next decade is to tackle these issues against a background

of continued reductions in public spending; responding to business needs; securing alternative

funding for Employability and Business Support projects following the exit from the EU in 2019; and

sustaining the response to recent job losses due to company and office closures, particularly in Mid

and West Fife.

During the first quarter of 2017/18, the Delivery Groups for taking forward Fife’s Economic Strategy

were formed. The next steps for the Council are outlined below under the new strategy’s four

priorities.

Inclusive Growth

• Increase the number of foundation, modern and graduate apprenticeships in Fife.

• Increase the number of businesses engaging with schools through programmes like

Developing the Young Workforce and Culture of Enterprise.

• Extend the Talent Academy and Raytheon Quadcopter pilots to other businesses in the

manufacturing sector.

• Re-launch the 4 to Fortune project in Fife.

• Continue work on the five year built heritage CARS/THI regeneration programme in

Inverkeithing with a view to apply for circa £3 million of external

funding from Historic Environment Scotland and the Heritage

Lottery Fund.

• Further develop the Town Centre Investment Fund and increase

the number of projects in town centres ensuring that we adhere to

the Town Centre First Principle.

• Continue delivery of charrettes. Those that have secured funding

are Glenrothes West, Buckhaven and Kincardine.

Investment

• Deliver the Fife Manufacturing Resilience Programme in 2017/18 to support local

manufacturing and supply chain businesses affected by the oil and gas downturn.

• Complete the delivery of a network of enterprise centres, particularly the Enterprise Hub

Kincardine and continue to promote the Enterprise Hub Fife’s meeting rooms and hot desks.

• Consider the potential role which Fife Council will play in the Scottish Government’s R100

(Reaching 100%) programme for delivering superfast broadband to premises not included in

the current private and public sector investment programmes.

• £1.4 million investment from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Fund

2016/17 will be utilised to remediate sites in Kirkcaldy and Levenmouth during 2017/18.

• Continue in the negotiations for the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Deal and

produce outline business cases for the Tay Cities Deal. In July 2017, the Heads of Terms

were agreed for the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Deal.

• Longannet Power Station - Work in partnership with Clackmannanshire and Falkirk Councils,

respective communities and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) to help shape the future

of the immediate area closest to Longannet Power Station. Assist Scottish Power in

establishing potential future uses for the site.

Internationalisation


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• Focus business support programmes funded by the European Regional Development Fund

on business growth rather than start-ups.

• Work to secure funding through the European Structural and Investment Funds to delivery

enhanced financial assistance to businesses to December 2018.

• Continue to work with partners to organise and deliver exporting workshops and events for

Fife businesses.

Innovation

• A full planning application for the Glenrothes District Heating Scheme, informed by public

consultation, will be submitted in 2017/18. Site investigations for the proposed Glenrothes

Energy Network begun in July 2017.

• The Women’s Leadership Programme – the first of its kind – will begin in June 2017 and will

run for twelve months. This programme is run in partnership with Women’s Enterprise

Scotland, Economic Development and Business Gateway Fife. The programme will consist of

a series of workshops at the new Enterprise Hub Fife in Glenrothes, online content and one-

to-one support.

• In 2017/18, the Service will continue to work with the University of St Andrews Knowledge

Transfer Centre to identify new opportunities for encouraging businesses to take advantage of

the University’s expertise.

Key Sectors

• Continue to deliver events with CEED and SMAS in 2017/18 to support Fife’s manufacturing

industry.

• Ongoing work with Zero Waste Scotland to create a more circular economy in the engineering

and fabrication sectors to maximise the benefits to Fife firms.

• The third phase in the development of Energy Park Fife.

• The Tourism team will support the development of a strategy for the Forth Bridges area.

• The Economic Development team are also developing strategic insights to understand how

best to position Fife and its supply chain capability, in a number of emerging sectors,

including Decommissioning and the Hydrogen economy.

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