Green Freeports Programme Board Meeting Six Summary Minute: April 2024

Attendees and apologies

Present

Scottish Government (SG)

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

UK Government (UKG)

• Brendan Threlfall, DG Union & Windsor Framework, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• Jessica Blakely, Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for UK Freeports Programme, Director, Major Programmes, DLUHC
• representative deputising for Patrick Moran (DD Customs, His Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC))
• Iseabail MacTaggart, Deputy Director, Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
• Freeports Programme Director, DLUHC
• Head of UK Freeport Delivery, Devolved Nations, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
• Delivery Lead – Freeports in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
• representative for Customs Compliance, Transit and Freeports, Home Office
• representatives for His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) - to present on Forth Green Freeport tax sites

Apologies

• Laurence Rockey, Scotland Office, UKG
• Jonathan Donaghy, Deputy, HMT Customs, UKG
• Sean Neill, Director for Local Government and Communities, SG
• Colin Cook, SRO for Green Freeports Programme, Director of Economic Development, SG
• Harriet Wilkinson, Director, Home Office, UKG
• Will Davies, Director, Investment Zones, Freeports and English Devolution, HMT, UKG

Items and actions

Welcome

The DLUHC chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. He noted the excellent progress of the Green Freeports, especially the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport’s tax site approval and the Sumitomo investment.

The SG chair acknowledged the resignation of the First Minister. He noted this is not a concern for the Green Freeports programme as no ministerial decisions are needed soon.

Minutes

The minutes of the 12 February 2024 meeting were approved by the board with no changes.

Programme update

The SG and DLUHC Programme Directors gave an update:

• the full business case of Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport is expected next month
• the joint SG/DLUHC team is looking at ways to reduce the risk of a UK general election or Scottish Parliament election delaying the approval of FBCs. The board will be kept updated
• the Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) reviewed the Green Freeports subsidy scheme last week and it will be published on the subsidy transparency database at the beginning of May. It could be used as a model for Investment Zones in Scotland and Freeports in Wales
• work on identifying projects for the UKG Investment Opportunity Fund (IOF) has started. Department for Business and Trade (DBT), SG and enterprise agencies are working together on this and the Green Freeports will also be able to submit proposals. The fund is designed to fill funding gaps (of £1 to 25 million) for near ready investment opportunities, in five priority sectors set by the Chancellor. DLUHC and SG are agreeing processes, so that decisions are made jointly and link with other funding, e.g. for offshore wind
• DLUHC is also working with other government departments on their commitments in the Freeport Delivery Roadmap, including what that means for Scotland. Discussions will take place with SG on which parts of the roadmap might be replicated with devolved powers
• the joint SG/DLUHC team recently met for in person meetings in Glasgow

In discussion, the board noted:

• the monitoring and evaluation process will show whether delivery is on track. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Green Freeports, local authorities and both governments will include ways to manage performance and deal with poor delivery. The Green Freeports have strong plans in place to make sure business follow rules at their tax sites
• options for shortening the full business case appraisal process to avoid delays linked to the general election later in the year were discussed

Forth Green Freeport tax sites

HMT officials provided an update on the tax site approval for both Green Freeports.

The tax sites for Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport were approved by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and set out in law on 8 April 2024. They are now open for business. 

The tax sites for Forth Green Freeport have passed official-level checks against the criteria. All three Forth Green Freeport tax sites were recommended for approval without changes. The SG programme SRO agreed the recommendations. The Forth Green Freeport OBC has been approved by SG and DLUHC ministers. HMT ministerial approval is expected shortly. HMT expect the Forth Green Freeports tax sites to be set out in law in late May.

The board expressed support for the work to move forward tax site approval.

Investment Zones

The SG Programme Director gave an update on progress of the Investment Zones in Glasgow City Region and the North East of Scotland Region. Co-chairs agreed to review proposals for changing the role of this board to also cover Investment Zones given the links between the Green Freeports and Investment Zones programmes.