Chamber Activity Update
In January, Chief Executive, Alan Russell, joined a Scottish Chambers of Commerce delegation to Westminster to meet Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. A wide range of matters were discussed, in particular banks and funding for businesses, the economy, transport issues such as the Forth Bridge and high speed rail, energy policy and renewable energy.
Fife Chamber has participated alongside Scottish Chambers of Commerce in setting up a Supplier Engagement Group with senior civil servants at the Scottish Government with a view to improving procurement processes particularly for small and medium sized businesses. Over 30 businesses from Chambers across Scotland participated with broad sectoral spread, including Fife Chamber Director, Lindsey MacDonald, together with key procurement specialists from local and Scottish government, universities, colleges and centres of excellence. The event was very successful. Six project teams have now been created with specific responsibilities and goals to provide ideas and solutions to take the procurement agenda to its next stage.
The new Fife Tourism Partnership held its inaugural meeting in the Chamber boardroom of Wemyssfield House, Kirkcaldy. The Partnership is chaired by Debbie Taylor, Managing Director of the Old Course Hotel and Fife Chamber is represented by Chamber Director Charles Head, General Manager of the Fairmont St Andrews. Led by Fife Council, other members of the partnership include the Federation of Small Businesses, Visit Scotland and representatives of the tourism industry in Fife.
President Bill Main, Vice President Bob Garmory, Past President Duncan Dewar and Alan Russell had one of their regular quarterly meetings with Cllr Peter Grant, Leader of Fife Council and Cllr Tony Martin, Chair of the Environment, Enterprise and Transportation Committee early in February to discuss local issues including Planning and the Construction Industry, Procurement, Renewable Energy and Tourism Support.
On 5 February, Bill Main chaired a presentation by representatives of the Fife Construction Sector to elected members and senior officers of Fife Council in the Council Chambers at Fife House, Glenrothes. The presentation was arranged by Fife Chamber in conjunction with Fife Council as a follow up to two earlier meetings between the industry and Fife Council to enable the construction industry to outline its present difficulties to a broader range of Councillors.
At the invitation of Craig Thomson, Principal of Adam Smith College and director of Fife Chamber, Bill Main and Bob Garmory attended meetings Michael Jacobs, climate change/global warming/ renewables/environmental adviser to the Prime Minister/No 10. Discussions centred around the opportunities for businesses within renewable energy, in which Fife was well placed with the Energy Park at Methil. A further session focused on skills and planning for training in which Adam Smith and Carnegie Colleges had excellent track records.
Alan Russell was called to give evidence to the Forth Crossing Bill Committee at Holyrood on 24th February 2010 and was supported by West Lothian Chamber and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce. Written evidence in support of the new crossing has subsequently been provided to the Committee by Fife, West Lothian and Scottish Chambers.
Vice President Bob Garmory and Alan Russell met with the Shadow Scottish Cabinet (Ian Gray MSP, Andy Kerr MSP, Lewis MacDonald MSP and David Whitton MSP) on the 24 February, again as part of a Scottish Chambers of Commerce delegation. A wide range of matters was discussed in particular Transport Infrastructure in Scotland and how it should be funded, renewable energy opportunities, public procurement, finance for business and skills development.
At the end of February 2010, the Chamber Directors and Premier Partnership members met in Kinghorn with locally based politicians (MP's and MSP's) again to ensure matters concerning businesses were raised. This Politician's Forum meets on a quarterly basis.
During January and February 2010, three new Premier Partners have signed up. Fife Chamber is delighted to welcome Bank of Scotland Commercial, Big! Huge! Massive! and CityJet to the Premier Partnership and we look forward to working closely with these significant businesses in the months ahead.
Alan Russell
Chief Executive
March 2010
