BUSINESS LOANS SCOTLAND

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1 BUSINESS LOANS SCOTLAND 1. Purpose of Report 1.1 This report seeks approval for the Council to become a member of the pan Scottish local authority loan fund (Business Limited) which will provide financial support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Dumfries and Galloway. 1.2 This report has been progressed following the decision taken by this Committee at its meeting of 11 November 2014 to agree in principle that the Council join the new loan fund, and that a further report would provide detail on the proposed governance, financial and operational arrangements of the fund. 2. Recommendations Members are asked to:- 2.1 note the governance, operational and financial arrangements of the proposed Business Limited as detailed in this report; 2.2 agree to Dumfries and Galloway Council becoming a member of Business Limited; 2.3 agree to nominate one Member (and one substitute) from this Committee to join the West of Regional Management Group as detailed at 3.16 of this report; and 2.4 note that the performance of the loan fund will be incorporated into the Planning and Environment Services Business Plan performance monitoring report on an annual basis. 3. Considerations 3.1 The Scottish Local Authority Economic Development Group (SLAED) brings together the senior Officer leads for economic development for all local authorities. It is recognised as a key consultative group on economic development issues by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA). 3.2 As a result of early development work and ongoing discussions between Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and SLAED, an opportunity exists to create a pan local authority loan fund (hereafter the fund ). This would be achieved by merging the three existing loan funds noted below into a new loan company: The West of Loan fund operated by a consortium of local authorities The East of Loan fund operated by a consortium of local authorities The South of loan fund operated by Scottish Enterprise 3.3 The principle of the fund will be to provide commercial loan funding for new start and existing micro and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) of between 10, ,000 to support growth and/or job creation. 3.4 The fund would be created through a combination of final financial contributions from the existing loan funds detailed in 3.2 above and additional contributions from: local authorities, Scottish Government, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and bank finance.

2 3.5 The implementation of a pan local authority loan scheme would create an excellent opportunity to provide our region s businesses with a flexible and easier access to loan funds to sustain and grow their business and increase employment opportunities. 3.6 The fund would complement other business support provided by our Council, and that which partners provide, including the Financial Assistance to Small Business grant programme. Business Limited 3.7 The governance, operations and financial for Business Limited (BLSL) is outlined below. The Business Business Plan is attached as Appendix 1. This details the business strategy, operating model, management arrangements and revenue projections for the delivery of the loan fund. Corporate Governance 3.8 It is proposed that the fund would be established as a Company Limited by Guarantee (whereby each member s liability is limited to 1) and that membership be open to all 32 local authorities in. 3.9 A new company limited by guarantee will be incorporated with the name Business Limited Articles of Association and a Members Agreement will be adopted by the new company. This is based on the existing West of Loan Fund governance with revisions to take account of the specific requirements of the new fund. These documents establish the governance framework which will underpin BLSL and will be required to be signed by all participating local authorities. The Council s Legal Services have reviewed these documents and confirmed that they are fit for purpose should the Council decide to enter into the Members Agreement and Articles of Association It is expected that the full process of sign up by local authorities, the subsequent ERDF application and full operational training will be complete by September 2015 with the fund open for applications from 1 October The management and governance responsibility of the company rests with the Board of Directors. With up to 32 local authorities as members of it is not realistic to have each member represented on the Board. Nominations of 3 members per region will instead be sought from the three regional areas which will be established, namely East, West and Highlands. Dumfries and Galloway would be part of the West Region along with the following councils: East Ayrshire Council East Dunbartonshire Council East Renfrewshire Council Glasgow City Council Inverclyde Council North Ayrshire Council North Lanarkshire Council Renfrewshire Council South Ayrshire Council South Lanarkshire Council West Dunbartonshire Council

3 Management and Organisation 3.13 Business Ltd will be a company limited by guarantee and as such must at all times comply with company law. In addition the company must comply with its own published Articles of Association The company structure is detailed below: Controlled by 32 Scottish Local Authorities Business SC WSLF Management Services Ltd SC WSLF, ESI & SEBSED wound up. Business, assets, liabilities and ERDF obligations transfer to new company along with ownership of WSLF Management Services Ltd. Controlled by 12 WSLF Member Authorities West of Loan Fund SC Controlled by 10 ESIF Member Authorities East of Loan Fund SC Controlled by Scottish Enterprise & 2 Member Authorities South of Loan Fund SEBSED 3.15 The Corporate Governance structure will consist of four elements: The Board of Directors Corporate Governance Working Group Regional Management Groups Regional Officers Groups.

4 Board of Directors Corporate Governance Working Group West Regional Management Group Highlands & Islands Regional Management Group East Regional Management Group Regional Officers Group Regional Officers Group Regional Officers Group Responsibilities: 3.16 Board of Directors 4 times per year Up to 9 Directors from the member authorities - 3 from each region Attended by Fund Manager/Company Secretary Strategy and direction of the fund Draft minutes of meetings circulated to Regional Management Groups within 2 weeks of the meeting and signed off at the next meeting of the Board 3.17 Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG) As required Up to 6 one Director and Officer from each region Attended by Fund Manager/Company Secretary Consider matters referred to it from Board A record of matters remitted to the CGWG by the Board and the resulting recommendations will be included in the minute of Board meetings Regional Management Groups (RMG) 4 times per year, 3 weeks prior to main Board meetings One senior representative (likely to be an elected member or senior officer) nominated to sit on RMG by each member local authority within the region Led and organised by Loan Fund Officer Fund Manager/Company Secretary will attend at least one meeting of each RMG per annum Local performance, executing Board strategy and

5 3.19 Regional Officers Groups direction, nomination of Directors to represent the region on the Board, determining applications over 50k and up to 100k Draft minutes of the meetings circulated to the Board of Directors with their agenda and signed off at the next meeting of the RMG. Agenda includes any items requiring a decision at the upcoming Board meeting. 4 times per year, 2 weeks in advance of Regional Management Group meetings One nominated officer from each member local authority within the region Led and organised by Loan Fund Officer Member authority performance against ERDF targets, operational and compliance matters. Draft minutes of the meetings are circulated to the Regional Management Group with their agenda and signed off at the next meeting of the Officers Group The nomination for representation at regional level is to be determined by each individual local authority. It is recommended that Committee agree one Member (and substitute) in accordance with the Council s scheme of representation to outside bodies from this Committee to join the West of Regional Management Group. Link officer support will be provided by the Economic Development Service The Regional Management Groups will provide nominations to the Board of Directors. Operations 3.22 The process for developing applications and awarding loan funds is detailed in a chart in Appendix Each member authority s contribution to the fund will be exclusively ring fenced to be invested in the respective local area. Development of loan fund applications would be undertaken by the Council s Economic Development Service through the Business Gateway service (in the same way that the Council s Financial Assistance to Small Business grant scheme is operated) Officers from the Economic Development Service would support clients with the development of their application which then would be credit checked by a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated credit rating company selected by BLSL The application would then be assessed and a recommendation made to an Award Panel at either local (Dumfries & Galloway) or Regional (West of ) level The approval of loan applications of up to 50k will be undertaken at a local level, with an Award Panel making decisions. The Award Panel will consist of 3 Council Officers (2 from Economic Development and 1 from Finance). The Panel will be chaired by the Head of Economic Development.

6 3.27 Applications for loans above 50k will follow the same development process but with the recommendation for approval being referred to the Regional Management Group for final scrutiny and decision Once a recommendation for approval has been secured the application would be forwarded to BLSL s nominated solicitor for legal checks following which it will be checked for technical compliance and viability by BLSL. The loan can then be approved, the client notified and, if approved, the funds released. Loan repayments would then be then be managed by BLSL Currently Scottish Enterprise contract with Wigtown Rural Development Company (WRDC Ltd) to administer and manage the SEBSED loan funds. For administrative ease and efficiency it has been agreed that BLSL enter into a short term contract to allow the local repayments to continue to be managed. This activity will then be absorbed in the team within BLSL An operations manual is currently in the final stages of development. Once complete BLSL will be undertaking full training with all local authority representatives involved in the development and assessment of loan fund applications. Finance 3.31 A collective bid to the European Structural Fund is being actively encouraged by the Scottish Government. This would be combined with a private sector contribution of 5.4 million from the bank and member contributions totalling 5.4 million, creating a fund of 18 million to be invested in the period A summary of the overall pan funding package is: Member authorities contribution 5,400,000 Bank 5,400,000 European Regional Development Fund 7,200,000 Total 18,000, The Council will not be required to make any financial contribution to BLSL. Scottish Enterprise has exited from SEBSED Ltd with funds and existing loans being transferred to BLSL (which has become the sole member of SEBSED Ltd) Effectively Scottish Enterprise will transfer SEBSED Ltd to BLSL with 500k of assets ( 240k cash plus 260k live loans) as the Council s contribution to the overall fund. This funding will be ring fenced and disbursed only to Dumfries and Galloway businesses. The fund will be evergreen and all loan repayments will be utilised for future loan approvals on a ring fenced basis The level of funds which would be invested in Dumfries and Galloway annually remains to be fully determined, dependant on securing full ERDF funding. A working estimate based on previous loan fund experience, and the fact that our region has 3.9% of the national SME business base, is detailed below: Contributor Level SEBSED transferred 500,000 ERDF 96,000 Bank finance 79,000 Total loan fund per year 675,000

7 3.36 The funding outlined above includes contribution to annual operating costs associated with running the new loan fund. Operating costs are indicated as being 3% of the value of the fund Based on a total loan fund value of 675,000, it is estimated that in the initial three year period (from October 1 st 2015) the following outcomes will be achieved in Dumfries and Galloway: 25 loans agreed 65 new jobs created 180 jobs safeguarded 5 new start businesses supported 20 existing businesses supported 1.8m increased turnover generated in supported businesses 1.8m private sector leverage 4. Governance Assurance The Departmental Management Team, Head of Finance and Senior Manager Legal and Regulatory have been consulted and are in agreement with the content of this report. 5. Impact Assessment. As the report does not propose a change in policy/strategy/plan/project it is not necessary to complete an Impact Assessment. Author(s) NAME DESIGNATION CONTACT DETAILS Ewan Green Chris Brown Head of Economic Development Service Manager Business and Enterprise ewan.green@dumgal.gov.uk Chris.brown@dumgal.gov.uk Approved by NAME Alistair M Speedie Appendices - 2 DESIGNATION Director of Economy, Environment and Infrastructure Appendix 1 Scottish Local Authority Loan Fund Ltd Business Plan Appendix 2 Loan Process Chart Background Papers Item 15 Scottish Local Authority Loan Fund Economy, Environment and Infrastructure Committee 11 November arc=71