Research, evaluation and insight

The main goal of the audit was to see if the award of the Business Gateway Fife (BGF) contract on a non-competitive basis represented value for money.

The evaluation was commissioned prior to the Business Gateway contract being put out for tender in 2007.

The Business Mentoring Scotland (BMS) programme aimed to provide mentoring services to over 100 companies of varying age and activity, attracting the goodwill support of some 100 experienced business people.

Cavalry Park is a business park in Peebles, located within a landscaped setting.

The Chair in Tourism at the University of Stirling aimed to: research into aspects of tourism and establish a tourism research centre; lead tourism degree courses and integrate tourism with existing courses; establish the Chair of Tourism as an independent ‘think tank’ for the tourism industry; and establish linkages with business clients.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) commissioned EKOS to undertake a review of the literature SE holds on the subject of clusters.

The Scottish Enterprise (SE) Network pioneered the ‘cluster’ method of supporting industries in Scotland.

The evaluation looked at existing information on labour market programmes operating in Glasgow and the West of Scotland: ‘Glasgow Works’ and ‘Training for Work’.

The Growth Programme, part of the wider Gateway Service, aimed to support companies that had significant potential to grow and that had made a demonstrable commitment to growth.

The Workforce Development Programme Core Skills Pilot aimed to look at the effectiveness of two differing approaches to training in Core Skills – a traditional classroom style approach and a supported e-learning approach.

The evaluation aimed to: identify the direct and indirect contribution of HQ functions to the Scottish economy, including indigenous and externally controlled HQs; set out the factors driving change in the nature and role of corporate HQs; identify emerging HQ models, the factors which determine the location of HQs and their potential mobility; suggest an HQ market segmentation to inform Scottish Enterprise’s operations; and draw out the strategic and operational implications for Scottish…

Creative Edinburgh (CE) aimed to: bring together the creative industries community in Edinburgh; encourage growth in the sector; and raise the ambitions of those companies involved in commercial activity.

Get Ready for Work (GRfW) aimed to provide training and additional support to young people who otherwise ‘would be unable to access other training, learning or employment opportunities’ in Lanarkshire’s rural and remote areas.

The Developing People in Tourism project (DPIT) was designed to give training support and assistance to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the tourism sector in the Borders.

The e-Business Initiative has aimed to raise awareness and accelerate adoption of e-business and supplier development amongst businesses in Dumfries and Galloway.

The e-Business Centre (e-BC) aimed to offer e-business services and support to local businesses.

The e-Businessadvisers Programme, which ran from 2000 to 2005, was designed to address two principal market failures: companies’ lack of strategic preparation for e-business; and weaknesses in the provider community’s ability to engage with clients.

The research involved a survey of the owners of businesses with websites, in Dumfries and Galloway, looking at: the perceived success of the company website in terms of the expectations of the owner; the levels of interest in seminars, workshops, tools and fact sheets as developed and made available to clients by Scottish Enterprise; and preferred attendance times for seminars and workshops.

The rationale for the Jobs Action Team (JAT) was to use a pro-active approach to engage people not currently in mainstream employment or training programmes, particularly those resident in the Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) areas.

The South of Scotland Loan Scheme (SoSLS) was formally established in 2004 with the objective of delivering economic added value in the South of Scotland by offering soft loans as part of a wider package of funding support for businesses identified as having job creation and growth potential.

The Ettrick Riverside project involved the £6 million redevelopment of a former Victorian Mill to provide office space and meeting facilities.

The Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) aimed to be a unique facility within the UK, and a centre of international ambition, with facilities to match.

Scottish Opera and the Theatre Royal aimed to: provide a world class cultural offering; attract tourists; promote a quality of life that enhances Glasgow and Scotland's attraction; and contribute to wider priorities of social justice, economic development, regeneration and equality through its outreach and educational programmes.

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) was relocated from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, near Galashiels, in 2002, as part of the Scottish Executive’s strategy of dispersing government jobs throughout Scotland and to help the ailing Borders economy which had been hard hit by the decline in textiles and electronics and by foot and mouth disease.

The aim of the Edinburgh Enterprise Campaign (EEC) was to: promote attitudinal and cultural change to enterprise among excluded groups; encourage training and education activity in local areas; and develop the local business infrastructure by creating referral systems and networks to signpost clients to Enterprise and other organisations.