Public performance reports

Economic development

The Council Plan Connect outlines our priorities and outcomes for 2022-27. Connect Outcomes should not be seen in isolation, they interact with each other and as we achieve success in one, we move closer to success in others. In delivering our vision to ‘improve the lives and prospects of everyone in South Lanarkshire’ our priorities show how our work links with our partners including our Community Planning Partners.

For daily updates, stories and what’s going on in your area, visit our information and news website South Lanarkshire View.

Each year we produce Annual Performance Spotlights which summarise how we have performed in achieving our Connect Outcomes. To complement these we have created a suite of individual Public Performance Reports which focus on key areas of council business. This report outlines our performance in relation to our Economic Development Service and how this links to our Economy outcome for thriving business, fair jobs and vibrant town centres.

The South Lanarkshire Economic Strategy 2022-27 focusses on the three key themes of sustainable economic development; People, Place and Business

People - South Lanarkshire's greatest asset is our people
Place - South Lanarkshire is a great place to start, grow and locate a business
Business - South Lanarkshire's many and diverse businesses are resilient and continue to thrive.

In partnership with local communities, voluntary agencies, the private sector and other public organisations, the council aims to promote employment creation, social inclusion, physical development and sustainability.

Number of businesses assisted by our Economic Development team (via grants, loans or property advice) Target - 1,500 businesses
What this means	The council provides a range of advice and financial help for businesses based in the South Lanarkshire area. Financial help is provided through the Business Support Grant and Business Loans Scotland. The council also provides advice to businesses through Business Gateway and the Lanarkshire Property Advice Service. This indicator identifies the number of businesses assisted by the council via these grants, loans or property advice.
Why this matters	The council has a key role in ensuring that there is an environment that is as supportive as possible to the circa 10,000 active businesses that are located within South Lanarkshire as well as new start up and micro businesses. As in most areas across Scotland, small businesses are the bedrock of the economy of South Lanarkshire and the council recognises that it needs to focus its efforts on the development of these businesses. Early intervention, preventative advice and pre-start care are all important in helping companies achieve a stable financial position.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	2,064	3,075	2,679	Yes (the 2020-21 figure is embellished by the delivery of Scottish Government Covid-19 funding)
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A
How we have performed in improving this public service	2,679 businesses have been supported during 2021-22. This includes SLC business support, Business Gateway referrals and advice, and businesses supported with Scottish Government Covid business grants administered by Economic Development (excludes taxi drivers and operators grants).

Number of jobs created or sustained as a direct result of our Economic Development team’s intervention. Target - 350 jobs
What this means	This indicator identifies the number of jobs being created or sustained (saved) per year as a direct result of the above intervention by the council.
Why this matters	The council recognises that it needs to focus its efforts on the development of those businesses which have growth potential. For this reason, council assistance provided in the way of grants, loans or property advice is directed towards helping businesses invest and employ more people, increase turnover and develop new products and markets.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	943	-	1,095	Yes
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes
How we have performed in improving this public service	Resources were reprioritised during 2020-21 to focus on supporting businesses forced to close or operate under strict restrictions as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 support being delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government at the time, did not require the collection of employee data, and so an exact figure regarding the number of jobs sustained (saved) is unable to be provided for 2020-21. However, given that over 3,000 businesses were supported during the period, it is clear that this contributed to sustaining employment. In 2021-22, over 1,000 jobs were created or sustained; these results were achieved through a range of business support and include safeguarding jobs in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Value of sales generated by businesses as a direct result of our Economic Development team’s intervention. Target - £5 million
What this means	This indicator identifies the value of sales generated by businesses as a direct result of the above intervention by the council.
Why this matters	The council recognises that it needs to focus its efforts on the development of those businesses which have growth potential. For this reason, council assistance provided in the way of grants, loans or property advice is directed towards helping businesses be more competitive and increase turnover and profit.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	£11.91 million	-	£22.11 million	Yes
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes
How we have performed in improving this public service	Resources were reprioritised during 2020-21 to focus on supporting businesses forced to close or operate under strict restrictions as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 support being delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government at the time, did not require the collection of business turnover information, and so an exact figure cannot be attributed to this measure for Covid-19 related support for 2020-21. The annual target was reduced from £10m to £5m in 2021-22 in anticipation of a downturn in activity and investment by businesses due to Covid-19. However, there were high projections of turnover growth by those businesses engaging with economic development, and seeking to invest in business recovery and growth.

Number of business gateway start-ups per 10,000 population
What this means	This indicator provides the rate of business gateway start-ups per 10,000 population.
Why this matters	This high-level indicator is important because new business formation is a good indicator of how conducive we are to entrepreneurship in the business environment. Small businesses make up 92.5% of the business base and 40.2% of employment in South Lanarkshire. They are the lifeblood of local town centres and communities, and a fundamental aim of the council is to improve the business creation and growth of small businesses in the area.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	13.98	8.95	15.71	Yes
	Scotland	16.40	11.19	14.41	Yes
How we have performed in improving this public service	The number of business gateway start-ups per 10,000 population has increased from 8.95 in 2020-21 to 15.71 in 2021-22. This is higher (better than) the Scottish Average of 14.41, and places South Lanarkshire in 17th place in the rankings (an improvement from 23rd last year). Economic Development continue to work with the Lanarkshire Business Gateway contractor, Elevator, to increase business start up, survival and sustainability.

Immediately available employment land as a % of total land allocated for employment purposes in the local development plan
What this means	Available employment land is undeveloped land allocated for employment use (Class 4, Class 5 and Class 6) in Local Plans or which has valid planning consent.
Why this matters	The availability of land for development is a significant factor that affects local economic growth, and it falls within the councils’ local development planning powers to influence this. This measure shows how ‘investor ready’ and competitive the council is in providing infrastructure to do business.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	38.5%	37.47%	12.73%	No
	Scotland	36.2%	38.91%	27.19%	No
How we have performed in improving this public service	In 2021-22, there was a decrease in the supply of marketable land as a proportion of total allocated employment land at 12.73%, which is down from 37.47% in 2020-21. As such, South Lanarkshire remains below the Scottish average of 27.19%.

We will take forward the following key areas for improvement:

Work with the Business Gateway contractor, Elevator, to increase numbers of new business starts
Deliver programmes, services, and events to businesses around key sectors, locations, and themes (e.g., food and drink, tourism, construction, low carbon, innovation, internationalisation, collaboration, and young enterprise)
Implement a suite of key strategies and plans, all of which are inherently linked to the key themes of sustainable economic development, including: South Lanarkshire Economic Strategy, Tourism Strategy and Social Enterprise Strategy
Complete the South Lanarkshire wide town centre visioning strategy
Progress action to further understand the factors that influence the level of local spend and identify further opportunities for local spend.

Resource Plans are prepared each year by all council Resources to outline the key developments they intend to take forward in the year. Performance and actions relating to economic development can be found in the Community and Enterprise Resource Plan.

Twice a year, performance reports are presented to council committees on progress against the Resource Plans. In addition, reports detailing progress against the Council Plan Connect Outcomes are prepared - see Quarter 2 performance reports for further information.

More information on our priorities can be found in the Council Plan Connect and also the Annual Performance Spotlights.

Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) allows councils to work together, to use performance information in a way which will help understand variations, share knowledge, expertise and good practice, with a view to making improvements. At the core of the framework is an agreed suite of performance indicators. We report the results for these indicators, over time, on the website. Additionally, you can compare our LGBF results with other councils' using the mylocalcouncil tool. Not all local authorities are alike and so family groups of eight ‘similar’ councils have been set up for comparison purposes. Workshops take place throughout the year to discuss the indicators and results – South Lanarkshire Council is actively involved in these discussions.

The information contained within this report reflects the position based on the data available at the time of publication (February 2023)