National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board minutes: 25 June 2025

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Barry White (Co-Chair)
• Sir Simon Lister
• Ewan Aitken
• Jane Wood
• Gillian Docherty
• Claire Mack
• Roz Foyer
• Ellis Watson
• Stuart Black - Chief Executive Officer, Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• Lorna Gregson-Macleod - Lead of Planning and Partnerships, Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Supporting officials

• Aidan Grisewood, Director for Jobs and Wellbeing Economy
• Fiona Simpson, Chief Planner
• Richard Rollison, Director for International Trade and Investment
• Colin Cook, Director for Economic Development
• Michelle Quinn, Director for Offshore Wind

Apologies

• Kate Forbes MSP (Co-Chair), Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic
• Audrey Cumberford
• Douglas Millican

Items and actions

Welcome 

The Chair welcomed members to the second meeting of the NSET Delivery Board in 2025, noting apologies from Audrey Cumberford, Douglas Millican and the Deputy First Minister. The minutes from the March meeting and subsequent actions have been agreed.

Update on Key Economic Delivery Strands 

Aidan Grisewood provided an update on Scotland’s current economic outlook and outlined key areas of ongoing work. He presented an overview of the recent Spending Review alongside the newly published Programme for Government 2025/26.

He also briefed the board on the renewed focus of the DG Economy led Programme Board, which is tasked with strengthening assurance around delivery of Programme for Government (PfG)/NSET commitments. Additionally, Aidan noted that the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Investment and Economy (CSC-IE) convened for its third meeting in June, continuing its focus on driving investment, the meeting focussed primarily on the green economy, housing, and public infrastructure.

Members raised the following

• a request that the key high level NSET metrics are updated and reported on at the next meeting
• Regional Economic Partnerships (REPs) remain at various stages of development and have the potential to contribute more to NSET and its aims
• Glasgow and Edinburgh are strong examples of successful partnerships, but many other REPs could be stronger and play a bigger role
• there is a risk of widening regional inequity unless roles and expectations for regions are clearly defined— can lessons from models such as Greater Manchester be beneficial
• the board is keen to consider how it can actively support the planning process though note aspects of planning fall outside core Scottish Government structures
• the UK Government (UKG) Industrial Strategy is seen as broadly aligned with Scotland’s priorities and could be a positive lever for supporting Scotland’s economic growth
• investment in defence and related jobs is expected to increase rapidly. There is a need to assess how this growth may affect other NSET and PfG priorities
• co-ordination between SG and UKG on defence opportunities is improving; Scotland must act quickly to develop relevant skills and capture economic benefits
• defence investment also has the potential to be an opportunity regionally driven by the REPs and to have a broader impact on the tech economy

Planning and consenting 

Fiona Simpson, Chief Planner set out the current work being taken forward on planning and consenting. 

Planning is a powerful tool to support growth of Scotland’s economy, and our focus is on impactful delivery. Following a programme of planning reform over recent years, focus is now on enabling delivery and action is being taken to provide confidence for investment through our priorities of housing delivery, performance, resourcing and capacity, and efficiency.  

Devolution has enabled the Scottish planning system to evolve relative to its own priorities. Scotland’s stakeholders and Parliament have strongly supported a plan-led approach that incorporates infrastructure-first and early input of interested parties. Planning officials welcomed the opportunity to set out the Government’s position on the questions put by the NSET Delivery Board.

Members raised the following

Housing:

• now a Cabinet Secretary for housing who also sits on Cabinet Sub-Committee for Investment & Economy (CSC-IE). This demonstrates both significance and importance 
• keen to determine whether Scotland is doing enough to boost the economy through the planning process and its levers. Is Scotland doing enough to boost the economy through the planning process and its levers? For example, stalled sites are low hanging fruit. What work is taking place on why they are stalled and is there a shared understanding with industry? We are not achieving the all tenure housing supply we need for economic growth
• acknowledged some good work being taken forward. Robust data needed to capture (in an economic opportunity sense), the cost of inaction with housebuilding and losing investment to other parts of UK. This data can be used to drive change
• not enough being done at pace given the housing emergency. Scotland on start and completions at its lowest level since 1990. Industry needs to be collaborated with on sharing data
• an all-tenure target creates ambition, as well as stronger working with delivery partners. SME’s are falling by 40%
• need to ensure Local Development Plans (LDPs) are fit for purpose and fit into the economic context picture. Not robust enough at present. Worrying signs of delays in production of new LDPs by local authorities, impacting future land supply
• right steps taking place to speed up planning within context of the housing emergency but only one part of jigsaw. Need to ensure development plans match up with where the growth is projected to be. How much money will be invested into local authority/social/council housing schemes to quickly elevate some of the short-term housing emergency challenges
• social housing needs to be seen as a tenure in its own right. Improved budget means less of a challenge for stalled sites, but how do we ensure the right housing is in the right place
• asked whether there is confidence that LDPs will reflect economic opportunity
• there are shared goals on planning, but we are not currently on track to transform supply. Not going to improve process in current or possible next term unless fundamental changes are made. In relation to the cost of not having data to demonstrate inaction, the cost of inaction is actually understood, but the solution to inaction is not there
• housing units are being approved by planning (noting over 160k consented but not built yet), and the approval process isn’t much different to England’s planning process. We are not building at the same rate as we are approving sites. Unless some bigger bolder moves through legislation are made in Scotland despite what is already taking place, we are not going to make any material changes of substance

Offshore wind:

• not clear what we are regulating for. Need to provide outside world clarity on what outcome we want, especially at a time when international investors can move their focus very readily
• keen to understand how you combine local activity with national aims, noting plenty of work on speed and quality
• Offshore Wind (OSW) infrastructure approval bleeds into other areas such as housing approval. Commitment to improved decision-making timelines is welcome – with delivery being key
• need to look at why it would not be appropriate for the consenting system to mandate job creation or stipulate economic requirements. For example, Highland Council area will see a lot of this infrastructure built. Very robust social value aspect to their plan. Agree the need to speed up/get rid of certain legislation. Nothing in Scotland to mandate Fair Work in the planning process/creation of this infrastructure
• sector working hard on grid challenges, but the responsibility of the pace of this work lies with the UK Government and the Scottish Government. Need to be clear that cracking the planning/consenting process for OSW is an asset in itself that we can demonstrate to the world. We have more commercial OSW sites in Scotland of its size than other countries, we are progressing well, but the process is slow
• queried if Team Scotland is as cohesive as it could be. Scotland is working in an environment where we are fighting for investment so understanding the regulations and their processes is key

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Lisa McDonald, Head of New Market Clusters, provided an overview of Scotland’s current AI landscape and projected areas of growth. She highlighted Scotland’s critical AI infrastructure such as computing and data centres as a foundation for global competitiveness and innovation. 

She also outlined the recently published PfG 2025/26 commitment focused on establishing Scotland as a developer, not just a consumer, of AI technologies. This includes the launch of AI Scotland as a national transformation initiative. Lisa emphasised that Scotland is not starting from scratch, citing existing resources such as the AI Playbook, the Living with AI literacy programme, and Techscaler programmes aimed at accelerating AI capability and adoption.

Members raised the following

• the World Economic Forum reports that 60% of the current workforce will require upskilling in AI within the next five years, yet there is limited visible change within the education and skills system to address this emerging need
• Data Labs should be a core component of the AI Helix, forming a strong platform alongside academia, private sector & government. 
• further effort is required to ensure Scottish activity is integrated and aligned with UKG
• Scotland should identify and articulate where it intends to lead in AI and technology development and set out how businesses will be supported to adopt and benefit from these innovations
• a focused discussion on the use of AI in the public sector is needed to explore opportunities for improving efficiency and service delivery; the board could play a key role in shaping this agenda
• on adoption and innovation, support must be balanced between AI developers and users
• the board endorsed the outlined plan of work as presented by Lisa

Investment 

Richard Rollison noted that the Increasing Investment Programme is bringing structure and capacity to previous work. He added that there is a focus to ensure the SG and Ministers are speaking to investors ‘about the right things at the right time’, as well as highlighting the improvements made within SG. Richard also noted that there have a positive perceptions from investors about the changes. 

HIE Regional Transformational Opportunities In The Highlands and Islands Report May 2025

Lorna Gregson-Macleod, provided an overview of the key parts of the research within the report, including 250 potential projects potentially creating up to £100 billion investment. She noted the scale opportunity in terms of jobs is radically different to previous periods and highlighted the spread of investment across the region as a positive outcome. Stuart Black added that investment in housing, skills and transport will be crucial to ensure the planned projects come to fruition.

Members raised the following

• noted a sense of positivity in the region and felt the board needed to understand how best to judge performance against our ambition for investment opportunities
• highlighted quick progress being made in port investment and noted this being fundamental to progress of other projects. Noted “bumps in the road” in some areas of work but emphasised momentum is still there and that the public sector will need to enable infrastructure to ensure other projects aren’t impacted. He said spreading projects over 10-15 years is better for the Scottish economy and should be taken into account when judging success
• raised transmission infrastructure and asked Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) about the support they receive in this area
• slowness around transmission infrastructure progress was highlighted but it was noted that both the Scottish Government and the UK Government are trying to improve this
• some resistance from local communities was noted and the importance of meaningful community benefit was flagged
• asked if there are enough people in the area to help deliver the projects or if recent changes to immigration could impact progress
• it was noted that the HIE region alone wouldn’t be able to supply the significant demand for project based temporary employment. Therefore, other workforce would be needed to support project work. Acknowledged the opportunity to move labour within Scotland i.e. transition from oil and gas
• highlighted a recent Skills Short Life Working Group set up to identify priority areas and noted a business case, including pilot interventions, would be submitted to Ministers soon
• the challenge around an ageing population and type housing within rural communities was raised
• progress made with Highland Council on type of housing but flagged that mid-market rent property is still in short supply
• suggested that the board’s letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing could include a specific ask around housing in HIE given its impact on workforce in the area

Close

Barry thanked members for their attendance and input into the meeting, noting the next meeting will take place on Wednesday 10 September. 

Actions

• NSET Secretariat to circulate a note detailing the recent income tax increase and how improvement in Scottish economic growth is being measured through earnings comparisons with the rest of the UK
• NSET Secretariat to share key macroeconomic indicators with the board as part of monthly bulletin and future board papers
• NSET Secretariat to schedule a short, dedicated board discussion exploring how we address the economic potential in the defence and aerospace sector in Scotland
• NSET Secretariat to work with officials leading on Regional Economic Partnerships and provide update on any evidence available of how Manchester’s regional economic progress can be benchmarked alongside a comparative area in Scotland, (i.e. Edinburgh or Glasgow)
• Barry to draft a letter from the board to Cabinet Secretary for Housing, on the disconnect between potential all tenure housing supply and economic growth
• NSET Secretariat to work with SG Investment and Offshore Wind officials to consider and provide update on how planning and consenting processes are perceived by investors and how SG can be assured that processes are deemed positive and an asset in attracting investment to Scotland
• NSET Secretariat to work with Lisa McDonald to facilitate engagement with Gillian Docherty in her role as Board Champion for AI
• NSET Secretariat to schedule a dedicated board discussion exploring how AI can drive efficiency across the public sector, and how this aligns with broader policy ambitions
• NSET Secretariat to progress a green skills-focused discussion to be held at the September Board meeting. NSET Secretariat will also facilitate Claire Mack to coordinate with Simon and Roz and lead SG officials in advance to shape the agenda
• reference specific Highland and Island’s housing pressure in letter from the board to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing