June 2011 (PDF, 706KB) - Falkirk Council

Issue 1 • June 2011
falkirk business panel
update event in march
Members of the business panel came together in March for the annual
update event, providing the opportunity to hear from Falkirk Council
on all its activities affecting business. This year the business community were also
invited to participate in discussion groups to give their feedback on a new business support
strategy for the area.
Rhona Geisler, Director of Development Services at Falkirk Council spoke about Tax Increment
Financing and the Upper Forth Development Investment Zone. This project recognises the
strengths of the Falkirk-Grangemouth area and the potential for the site to be of national
significance. She outlined that Scottish Enterprise, Falkirk Council and Chemical Sciences
Scotland have commissioned a study and framework to “provide a clear and common direction
for future economic growth in the area”. Work is ongoing and this will be published in June.
Julian Taylor, Director of Strategy and Economics at Scottish Enterprise then gave a lively and
informative talk on the wider Scottish economy and how the Falkirk area compares, before
the audience gathered into discussion groups to help inform the content of the new Business
Support Strategy for the area.
Since the event, the Business Support Strategy for the Falkirk Area has been approved by
Falkirk Council’s Economic Development and Strategy Committee. For a full write up of the
discussion groups visit www.myfuturesinfalkirk.co.uk/results
diary dates
Falkirk Business Exhibition 2011
Friday 17 June, Falkirk Town Hall
Visit the home page of www.myfuturesinfalkirk.co.uk to register.
Falkirk Business Panel Annual Conference
Friday 23 September, MacDonald Inchyra Grange Hotel
Further details will be added to www.myfuturesinfalkirk.co.uk in due course.
In this edition, the Economic Outlook
column takes a look at some key statistics
and what they say about the local economy
of the Falkirk area.
Business Demography
In Falkirk there were 3,375 active businesses in 2009. There were
400 business births, a birth rate of 11.8%, and there were 325 deaths
(9.6%). The five-year survival rate for businesses born in 2004 and still
active in 2009 was 43.2%.
In Scotland as a whole, the comparable figures for 2009 are: 151,000
active businesses, a birth rate of 9.8% and a death rate of 10.2%. The
Scottish five-year survival rate for businesses born in 2004 and still
active in 2009 was 47.5%.
Although these figures for 2009 show that Falkirk compared
favourably in terms of its birth and death rates, Falkirk has for many
years had a lower stock of businesses for the size of its population
than Scotland as a whole.
Number of Active Business Enterprises per 1000 Working Population
2004 2008 2009
Falkirk 32.4 35.3 35.6
Scotland 42.6 46.0 46.5
The recently approved Business Support Strategy for the Falkirk
recognises that a healthy business birth rate is needed to maintain
and enhance the business base. Increasing the business birth rate
has been identified as a key priority of the strategy.
Forecasts of Economic Growth
The UK economy is currently forecast to grow at around +1.6% in
2011. The average of several forecasters’ estimates for Scotland is
also around 1.6% growth. This would be a slight improvement on
Scotland’s growth rate in 2010.
Mackay Consultants produce forecasts of economic growth at local
authority level. In their Prospects for the Scottish Economy 2011-2014,
Falkirk is rated 7th highest of 32 council areas at an average annual
increase of +2.38% over 4 years.
economic outlook
The Importance of
Manufacturing
The latest business statistics for Scotland show that the Gross Value
Added (GVA) of the manufacturing sector was £13,985.6 million.
Manufacturing in the Falkirk area contributed £1,546.3 million to
Scottish GVA. Compared to all the other 32 local authorities in
Scotland, Falkirk was the top local authority contributing 11.1% of
Scotland’s manufacturing GVA, followed by Glasgow at 9%. The
largest contributions to GVA within manufacturing came from the
petro-chemicals industry.
Falkirk has a higher percentage of people employed within the
manufacturing sector than Scotland as a whole, particularly within
the chemicals and petro-chemicals industries and metal goods,
mechanical engineering and transport equipment. In Falkirk,
manufacturing accounts for 12.7% of total employment compared to
the Scottish proportion of 7.9%.
With a higher concentration of manufacturing than any other part of
Scotland, Falkirk should be well placed to capitalise on export and
other emerging opportunities as government seeks to re-balance
the economy away from over-reliance on the financial sector, the
domestic consumer and public services.
Falkirk Council, Scottish Enterprise and Chemical Sciences Scotland,
in conjunction with local industry, are currently developing a
framework which will provide a clear and common direction for future
economic growth in the area’s key sectors.
2011 Census
Most people will be aware that the date of the 2011 Census was
Sunday 27th March. Once the data has been fully collected and
analysed, the Census will provide a wealth of information about
the local population, including information on the economy. The
first results are expected in July 2012 and will be released over the
following months.
There will be figures on the numbers of people in employment, the
types of jobs they have and the industries they work in. Data will be
available on the qualifications held by local people and their travel
to work patterns. All this will give everyone an insight into the local
economy and help to plan for future developments.
The Council will publish information on its website as it becomes
available.
For further information on economic statistics for the Falkirk
Council area, please follow the links:
Falkirk as a location:
www.myfuturesinfalkirk.co.uk/research
The Falkirk Council Research and Information web page:
www.falkirk.gov.uk/statistics
Issue 1 • June 2011