"The agency, which is given around £500m a year in public money to help grow the economy and foster overseas trade, continues to struggle with its budget. After overshooting its limit by £30m this year, it is believed to have committed itself to spending almost £40m beyond its means in 2006-07. It is trying to balance its books by scrapping and delaying funding for projects.
Problems with the quango are to be discussed by the Scottish cabinet today, amid clear signs that ministers and MSPs are increasingly irate at how SE is being run. One senior source said last night: "If this was a local authority, there would be heads on a spike." Nicol Stephen, the LibDem enterprise minister, met Jack Perry, Scottish Enterprise's £200,000-a-year chief executive, last week and discussed finances and the restructuring...
A source close to Mr Stephen said there was a pressing need for the agency to steady its budget: "The minister has said, 'Get a move on. It's a guddle. Sort it out.' "
Scottish Enterprise has made a mess of managing its budget. How long will it take to address what seem to be serious structural management problems? Meanwhile and predictably, its re-organisation in the direction of so-called metropolitan regions seems to be running into the sand.
1 comment:
More of a worry is the inability of SE to stop the decline in Scottish manufacturing and industry.
Fundamentally, the way they fund things is wrong. A typical scenario.....
A company needs £20k to assist in the development of a new product. SE ask how many jobs will be created. "None" is the answer to their question. "Well we can't fund it!".
They should be funding companies who want to innovate and secure jobs as well as grow jobs. New products that are truly innovative should in time bring jobs, but to stipulate the jobs must be created to get the money is pure folly!
Post a Comment