JOINT PERFORMANCE TEAM
FOREWORD
Background
' A Smart Successful Scotland' ( SSS) is both Scotland's enterprise strategy and the Scottish Executive's strategic direction to the Enterprise Networks. It was first published in 2001 and then refreshed in 2004.
The Joint Performance Team ( JPT) monitors progress towards achieving the ambitions for the Scottish economy identified in the enterprise strategy. The group was established in 2001 and is comprised of senior officials from the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise. The JPT originally developed progress measures for each of the priority areas of the strategy and, each year, Scotland's performance is compared against that of OECD member nations and UK regions. The aspiration underlying this international benchmarking is to move towards the top quartile of comparator economies for each priority. It is important to note that this report is not an assessment of the performance of the Enterprise Networks but a higher-level review of Scotland's position. Since the publication of last year's report and following the updating of the strategy, a consultation process has been undertaken to review the indicators used. This has resulted in some minor changes to the set of measures which feature in this year's report. Further changes will be considered for future reports.
Approach to Measurement
For each priority area there is one lead measure and a number of supporting measures. The lead measure is intended to meet three main requirements:
- to be an appropriate overall measure of progress;
- to provide the right strategic steer to the Networks; and
- to allow relatively straightforward international comparison.
The supporting measures are intended to provide a more rounded picture of progress to avoid the potentially distorting effects of too narrow a focus on lead measures. There are now four overarching measures: the existing indicators of prosperity and environmental sustainability have been joined as measures of overall progress by productivity and employment, which featured in the main body of the report last year.
The 2006 report
In order to provide an independent assessment of Scotland's progress, external organisations have been contracted to analyse the data and provide commentary. This year's report was compiled by Experian Business Strategies. The data used in their analysis was drawn from a range of sources, including the Scottish Executive, the Office of National Statistics and the OECD. The underlying datasets, showing Scotland's position in relation to OECD countries and UK regional comparators where data is available, are accessible on the Scottish Executive's website. N.B. More recent data may have become available for some indicators between the cut-off date for finalising the report and publication.
Joint Performance Team
December 2006