Green Freeports Programme Board Meeting Five Summary Minutes: February 2024

Attendees and apologies

Present

Scottish Government (SG)

• Gregor Irwin, Directorate General (DG) Economy (co-chair)
• Lewis Hedge, Deputy Director, Fair Work 
• representative deputising for Alison Irvine, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Transport Scotland 
• Head of Energy Transition and De-Carbonisation Policy  
• Richard Rollison, Director for International Trade and Investment
• Green Freeports Programme Director, Economic Development Directorate (DED)
• Head of Green Freeports Policy and Delivery, DED
• Green Freeports Policy and Delivery Team Leader, DED
• Green Freeports Policy Officers, DED

UK Government (UKG)

• Brendan Threlfall, DG Union & Windsor Framework, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• Carmen Suarez, Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for UK Freeports Programme, Director, Major Programmes, DLUHC
• representative deputising for Iseabail MacTaggart, Deputy Director, Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
• Assistant Director, Freeports External Engagement Lead, His Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC)
• representative for His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT)
• Laurence Rockey, Director, Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland
• representative for Customs Compliance, Transit and Freeports, Home Office
• Head of UK Freeport Delivery, Devolved Nations, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
• representatives for HMT - to present on Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport tax sites

Apologies

• Colin Cook, SRO for Green Freeports Programme, Director of Economic Development, SG
• Freeports Programme Director, DLHUC, UKG
• Andrew Scott, Director of Tax and Revenues, SG
• Sean Neill, Director for Local Government and Housing, SG
• representative for Home Office, UKG

Items and actions

Welcome

The chair welcomed colleagues and thanked members for their support for the programme to date, especially for Green Freeport Outline Business Case (OBC) assessment work.

Members were told that Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICF GFP) had replied to the major actions on its OBC. Officials from both governments reviewed the replies and are content. The programme SROs, acting on behalf of ministers, agreed that the OBC can now be approved. Once UK Government colleagues finish their final checks, the tax site approval can go ahead. 

It was noted that Mairi McAllan MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) had been appointed SG Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, and would take over portfolio responsibility for the programme in Scotland.  

Minutes

The minutes of the 30 November 2023 meeting were agreed with no changes.

Progress update

The SG Programme Director provided the board with an update on recent progress. They noted that the aim is to have one joint subsidy control scheme covering all parts of the programme in Scotland. This includes devolved (Scotland only) and reserved (UK-wide) reliefs as well as seed capital funding. This is planned to start as soon as possible after tax sites are approved. Land and Buildings Transaction Tax relief is urgently needed, and work is under way to make sure the subsidy control scheme is ready when tax sites are approved.

In discussion, the board noted that there was strong joint working across governments. Work is underway within UKG to help Scottish Green Freeports learn from English Freeports, and to link Freeports policy more closely with related policy. 

Forth Green Freeport (FGF) OBC appraisal

The SG and UKG Team Unit Heads gave a summary of the appraisal results for the Forth Green Freeport OBC. 

Inverness and Cromarty Firth (ICF) Green Freeport – tax sites progress

The chair noted there was a target to approve the ICF tax sites by early April.  This is important because of a major planned investment.

HMT Officials had reviewed ICF’s tax site proposals against the agreed criteria. All three of Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport’s tax sites were recommended for approval, with small changes to the Inverness tax site. The SG SRO confirmed agreement to the proposed recommendations. The tax site proposals will now be sent to ministers for approval.

The board expressed support for the work to continue.