Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is not involved routinely in decisions connected to the delivery of specific Scottish Enterprise (SE) interventions, which are clearly matters for the agency itself, taking account of the need to optimise the value and impact of its spend.

However, in this case, I understand that SE has postponed the proposed delivery of EDGE in 2010, rather than cancelled the scheme overall. The aim of this postponement is to allow SE to work with a range of partners to consider the scope for the organisation and funding of the programme to be put on a stronger and longer term footing.

In addition, the postponement of the EDGE programme in 2010 should be seen in the context of the significant range of other support provided by this government and its agencies to promote entrepreneurship in our schools and university students. Through our Enterprise in Education Strategy, Determined to Succeed we are working with a range of entrepreneurial agencies. These include Social Enterprise Academy school awards, Social Enterprise Academy Fresh Options Booklet & A guide to social enterprise in relation to enterprise and employability Skills, work with the Co-operative Education Trust and Young Enterprise Scotland.

The Scottish Government is not involved in the delivery of the Encouraging Dynamic Global Entrepreneurs (EDGE) programme, which has been led by Scottish Enterprise, or in consideration of future plans for the scheme which are clearly a matter for the agency itself, taking account of the need to optimise the value and impact of its spend.

However, I understand that Scottish Enterprise has postponed the proposed delivery of EDGE in 2010, rather than cancel the scheme overall and other options are being explored such as combining with other programmes of a similar nature such as Graduates into Business. The aim of this decision is to allow Scottish Enterprise to work with a range of partners to consider the scope for the organisation and funding of the programme to be put on a stronger and longer-term footing.

The Scottish Government has no plans, itself, to replace the EDGE programme but our ongoing commitment to encouraging entrepreneurship in our school and university students is illustrated by the significant range of other measures we have in place to support this agenda through our Enterprise in Education Strategy, Determined to Succeed. These include Social Enterprise Academy school awards, Social Enterprise Academy Fresh Options Booklet & A guide to social enterprise in relation to enterprise and employability Skills, work with the Co-operative Education Trust and, Young Enterprise Scotland.

Scottish Enterprise advise that there have been 600 participants in the EDGE programme since its inception.

I have asked Lena Wilson, the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to respond to you directly on this question.

 

I have asked Lena Wilson, the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to respond to you directly on this question.

Since it''s inception in 2005 the success of EDGE has been built on a partnership between Scottish Enterprise, Universities, Careers Scotland now Skills Development Scotland (SDS), Local Authority Education Departments and Scottish Businesses. Initially a programme available in the Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire area, its focus and stretch grew to organisations and academic institutions located in the West of Scotland together with the involvement of overseas universities. Scottish Enterprise has led the partnership over the period as well as providing significant support through involvement in the form of account managers and specialist support staff. Over the course of that period the overall costs of the scheme have amounted to £1.754 million, the vast majority of which was met by Scottish Enterprise. The total costs for 2009 were £360,000

Our understanding is that the EDGE programme was evaluated in June 2006 by Sarah Y Cooper, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde and William A Lucas of Cambridge MIT “ Institute and Sloan School, Massachusetts institute of Technology, USA, and again in November 2006 by GEN Consulting, O''Herlihy and Co and the last evaluation was in 2007. Full details should be available from Scottish Enterprise.

The formula capital allocations made available to each NHS board and for the years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 are detailed in the following table:

NHS Board	2007-08 £ Million	2008-09 £ Million	2009-10 £ Million	2010-11 £ Million
Ayrshire and Arran	21.161	21.451	21.783	18.472
Borders	5.983	6.034	6.128	5.196
Dumfries and Galloway	9.069	9.022	9.161	7.769
Fife	17.412	18.180	18.461	15.655
Forth Valley	14.433	14.534	14.758	12.515
Grampian	27.832	29.330	29.782	25.256
Greater Glasgow	97.608	97.417	98.920	83.887
Highland	18.533	18.596	18.883	16.014
Lanarkshire	28.390	29.495	29.950	25.398
Lothian	48.644	51.481	52.276	44.331
Orkney	0.774	0.893	0.907	0.770
Shetland	0.860	1.014	1.029	0.873
Tayside	24.347	24.650	25.030	21.226
Western Isles	1.954	1.902	1.932	1.638
Total	317.000	324.000	329.000	279.000
NHS Special Boards2
State Hospital	6.100	20.263	26.552	39.181
Scottish Ambulance Service	11.700	15.180	13.200	19.338
National Services Scotland	5.300	5.750	6.000	6.308
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	3.300	9.678	6.625	7.054
NHS 24	2.000	1.608	1.608	1.319
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland	-	1.790	1.690	0.250
Health Scotland	-			0.290
Total	28.400	=SUM(ABOVE) 54.269	=SUM(ABOVE) 55.675	=SUM(ABOVE) 73.74
Central Programmes3	170.6	146.93	152.62	204.96
Accelerated Capital			50	Note 1
Total	516.0	525.2	587.3	557.7

Notes:

1. Following discussions with NHS boards on the overall delivery of the health programme, the formula allocations for 2010-11 were adjusted from the indicatives previously notified on 9 February 2009 to reflect the repayment of accelerated capital of £50 million and the removal of inflation provision of £5 million reflecting the reduction in construction costs over the past year.

2. Special boards allocations reflect a continuing minor works allocation, provision for projects approved by Health Directorates Capital Investment Group and a provision for projects identified outwith delegated limits contained within local delivery plans.

3. In addition to the formula allocation, targeted resources are held centrally and allocated as required to the NHS boards in-year. Current programmes of this type include Primary Care, e-Health, Medical Equipment and Cancer Strategy. The sums held centrally for these programmes are set out in the table.

All NHS boards keep their activity under review in order to ensure the delivery of best value for taxpayers'' investment.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is currently reviewing its capital programme and expects to conclude this review by 15 May 2010 when a capital plan for 2010-11 and beyond will be presented to the NHS board''s performance review group for approval.

However, this does not affect the delivery of the new South Glasgow Hospital.

NHS Scotland and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde remain totally committed to the delivery and construction of the New South Glasgow Hospital project, which will be operational in 2015.

At this stage there has been no change to the timescales and capital cost for the Alexandria Medical Centre, as indicated in the response to S3W-31318. It will be possible to confirm the plan for the re-provision of the Alexandria Medical Centre when NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde capital review, as outlined in the answer to question S3W-32945 on 21 April 2010, has been completed.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.