Objective 3: Our economy
Achievement of improvement objective
Improvement objective
Our economy: Help small businesses, including social enterprises and co-operatives, to develop and grow, and by doing so, help create opportunities for local jobs and employment.
Self-assessment
Achieved – we helped small businesses, including social enterprises and co-operatives, to develop and grow, and by doing so, helped create opportunities for local jobs and employment.
Aspect of improvement
| Aspect of improvement | Achievement status |
|---|---|
|
|
Achieved |
|
|
Achieved |
|
|
Achieved |
|
|
Achieved |
|
|
Achieved |
|
|
Achieved |
|
|
Achieved |
General duty and continuous improvement
Strategic effectiveness
Service quality and availability
Fairness
Sustainability
Efficiency
InnovationPerformance improvement summary
3 Milestones
- 3 (100 per cent) milestones were achieved.
3 Performance Indicators (target)
- 2 (67 per cent) were on target or exceeded target (within 1 per cent or better).
- 1 (33 per cent) was adrift of target (5 per cent or more).
3 Performance Indicators (trend)
- 3 (100 per cent) performance indicators showed no significant change or maintained a similar level of performance as previous years.
Achievement of improvement objective 3 milestones
Supported local businesses, social enterprises, and co-operatives
- Achieved - Received the funding agreement/ MoU by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and finalised procurement contracts.
- Achieved - Successfully launched the new enterprise support service ‘Go Succeed’, which was delayed until 13 November 2023.
- Achieved - Received 573 enquiries from individuals wishing to start a business in Belfast, with 278 diagnostics completed leading directly to business plan development, and 1-1 mentoring.
Improvement objective 3 indicators and performance measures
|
Performance indicators |
2020-21 |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 Target [Footnote 5] |
2023-24 Actual |
Trend |
Commentary if target not met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of jobs promoted through the ‘Go For It’ programme [statutory performance indicator] |
210 |
308 |
283 |
156 |
158 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
No significant change |
The ‘Go For It’ programme finished in Q3 of 2023-24. Hence the target and actual figures are lower than in previous years. |
|
Business start-up and growth activity [statutory performance indicator]:
|
342 |
514 |
472 |
260 |
263 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
No significant change |
See ‘Go for it’ above. |
|
Number of participants or businesses supported |
698 |
731 |
503 |
658 |
572 Adrift of target (5% or more) |
No significant change |
Delay to the start of the new service (planned for September but delayed until November). |
How we compared – performance benchmarking
The ‘Go For It’ programme has been delivered in collaboration by all 11 councils since September 2017. Together we have supported 15,546 entrepreneurs to produce business plans and in doing so created 9,446 jobs [Footnote 6]. Six councils met their jobs promotion target for every year of the programme whilst Belfast met their target once in the final year of the programme (2023-24). However, we have delivered the greatest number of business plans and jobs, representing 16 per cent of all programme business plans and promoted the same proportion of programme jobs. Our performance in relation to our fellow councils is as follows:
|
Council area |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Antrim and Newtownabbey |
171 |
173 |
137 |
162 |
172 |
91 |
906 |
|
Ards and North Down |
181 |
171 |
165 |
211 |
166 |
106 |
1,000 |
|
Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon |
360 |
373 |
309 |
386 |
353 |
173 |
1,954 |
|
Belfast |
430 |
419 |
342 |
514 |
472 |
263 |
2,440 |
|
Causeway Coast and Glens |
231 |
195 |
216 |
256 |
213 |
110 |
1,221 |
|
Derry and Strabane |
226 |
217 |
184 |
238 |
240 |
118 |
1,223 |
|
Fermanagh and Omagh |
276 |
279 |
165 |
309 |
308 |
147 |
1,484 |
|
Lisburn and Castlereagh |
228 |
182 |
173 |
213 |
187 |
103 |
1,086 |
|
Mid and East Antrim |
201 |
199 |
153 |
181 |
206 |
110 |
1,050 |
|
Mid Ulster |
332 |
301 |
214 |
269 |
278 |
134 |
1,528 |
|
Newry Mourne and Down |
300 |
298 |
267 |
356 |
305 |
128 |
1,654 |
|
Total |
2936 |
2807 |
2325 |
3095 |
2900 |
1,483 |
15,546 |
|
Council area |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Antrim and Newtownabbey |
105 |
106 |
84 |
97 |
103 |
55 |
551 |
|
Ards and North Down |
111 |
105 |
101 |
127 |
100 |
64 |
608 |
|
Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon |
221 |
229 |
190 |
232 |
212 |
104 |
1,188 |
|
Belfast |
264 |
258 |
210 |
308 |
283 |
158 |
1,482 |
|
Causeway Coast and Glens |
142 |
120 |
133 |
154 |
128 |
66 |
742 |
|
Derry and Strabane |
139 |
133 |
113 |
143 |
144 |
71 |
743 |
|
Fermanagh and Omagh |
170 |
172 |
101 |
185 |
185 |
88 |
901 |
|
Lisburn and Castlereagh |
140 |
112 |
106 |
128 |
112 |
62 |
660 |
|
Mid and East Antrim |
124 |
122 |
94 |
109 |
124 |
66 |
638 |
|
Mid Ulster |
204 |
185 |
132 |
161 |
167 |
80 |
929 |
|
Newry Mourne and Down |
184 |
183 |
164 |
214 |
183 |
77 |
1,005 |
|
Total |
1805 |
1725 |
1429 |
1857 |
1740 |
890 |
9,446 |
Additional evidence of performance improvement aligned to objective 3
Evidence that we helped small businesses, including social enterprises and co-operatives, to develop and grow, and by doing so, helped create opportunities for local jobs and employment.
In addition to the ‘Go For It’ programme above, we delivered a range of key initiatives through our dedicated Economic Development Unit – for example, the Belfast Labour Market Partnership and the Belfast Employment Academies.
Further evidence to demonstrate that we helped small businesses, including social enterprises and co-operatives, to develop and grow, and by doing so, helped create opportunities for local jobs and employment is set out in our Belfast Agenda Progress Reports (link opens in new window)
Progress against our City Growth and Regeneration Committee Plan is monitored and reported to the City Growth and Regeneration Committee.
Next Steps
As a result of extensive consultation and engagement, ‘our economy’ is a strategic theme within the refreshed Belfast Agenda and a key priority in the 2024-28 Corporate Plan (currently in draft). This improvement objective will also feature in the Performance Improvement Plan 2024-25 as:
- We will stimulate inclusive growth and innovation, help businesses to start-up and grow and create opportunities for more and better jobs and employment.
Footnotes
[Footnote 5] The statutory target for jobs promoted in legislation is 325. During 2023-24 ‘Go For It’ ran for only 6 months as the scheme was coming to an end and Belfast City Council targets were reduced accordingly.
[Footnote 6] Job creation figures are calculated by applying a conversion rate to the number of business plans developed. For example, number of business plans developed X 0.6 = number of jobs created. This conversion rate is determined by Invest NI: 2018-19 to 2020-21 jobs promoted = business plans developed x 0.61471 and 2021-22 to 2023-24 jobs promoted = business plans developed x 0.6
[Footnote 7] Data supplied by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, who manage the contract to deliver the ‘Go For It’ Programme. The ‘Go For It’ programme finished in Q3 of 2023-24. Hence the target and actual figures are lower than in previous years.
[Footnote 8] Data supplied by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, who manage the contract to deliver the Go For It Programme. The ‘Go For It’ programme finished in Q3 of 2023-24. Hence the target and actual figures are lower than in previous years.
