Evaluation of network activity with social enterprises

The evaluation aimed to: identify various models and methods of delivery currently being used across the Business Gateways and local enterprise companies (LECs) and the differential impact support services have had on social enterprises; assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the current services and support provided to social enterprises by the Business Gateways and LECs, including the fit with the Growing Business segmentation model; establish the impact of the support services on the client social enterprises; and consider the knock-on social benefits to the clients of the social enterprises and the communities that are served.

Finds that there are three models in operation: 18 percent of all assists are through the standard Business Gateway process; 47 percent used a Business Gateway model with generic business development advisors, but with extra resource brought to bear on social enterprises; and 35 percent of assisted social enterprises have additional resource and business development support provided by specialist social economy support organisations. The survey generated generally positive feedback, with around 75 percent describing the service as valuable or very valuable. Particularly strong ratings were reported in relation to the skills and expertise of staff, and even more so to their behaviours and attitudes. There is very little variation in feedback across the three delivery models. Suggests that there are some positive findings in terms of the impact of Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway support: a high percentage of organisations claimed to have observed a positive impact; a significant proportion of social enterprises reported growth in turnover, trading income, etc; and the contribution of Scottish Enterprise to this growth averages out at around 15 percent.

The report recommends that consideration needs to be given to delivering support to social enterprise starts through the Business Gateway and that the same delivery model should be adopted across the Network. It recommends that the Network sets targets for social enterprises and adopts a more systematic approach. Recommendations are made for further staff development and engaging new social enterprise clients with growth potential.

The report recommends that consideration needs to be given to delivering support to social enterprise starts through the Business Gateway and that the same delivery model should be adopted across the Network. It recommends that the Network sets targets for social enterprises and adopts a more systematic approach. Recommendations are made for further staff development and engaging new social enterprise clients with growth potential.