Retail Industry Leadership Group meeting minutes: September 2025

Attendees and apologies

ILG members attending

• Lucy Brown (LB), Central Operations Director, John Lewis Partnership, and Retail ILG Industry Co-Chair
• Sonya Harper (SH), Central Operations Director, CJ Lang & Son
• David Lonsdale (DL), Director, Scottish Retail Consortium 
• Mo Razzaq (MR), Chair of Political Engagement - National Federation of Independent Retailers 
• Mark Millar (MM), Director of Stores – Scotland, Boots 
• Laura McCormack (LMcC), Head of Policy & Public Affairs, Booksellers Association
• Colin Smith (CS), Chief Executive, Scottish Wholesale Association
• Luke McGarty (LMcG), Head of Policy & Public Affairs, Scottish Grocers’ Federation 
• Laura Mitchell (LM),  Head of Retail, Greggs
• Debbie Harding (DH), Chief Corporate Office, Chair of SRC, Dobbies
• Kelly O’Sullivan (KO), Head of Communications and Devolved Government Relations, Tesco

Guests

• DSU Neil McDonald (NMcD), Police Scotland 
• ACC Tim Mairs (TM), Police Scotland 

Apologies

• Graeme Thomson, Director of Business Development, One O One Convenience Stores
• Wendy Hamilton, Policy Chair, Federation of Small Business 
• John McCartney, Scotland Organiser, GMB Union

Scottish Government

• Siobhan Brown (SB), Minister for Victims and Community Safety
• Frances Pacitti (FP), Director for Business and Better Regulation 
• Gary Cox, Deputy Director for Business Strategy and Tourism 
• Allan Clifford, Retail Team Leader, Scottish Government
• Celeste Wilson, Senior Retail Policy Advisor, Scottish Government
• Ross Sayers, Retail Policy Officer, Scottish Government
• Derek Moore, Police Policy Officer, Police Division, Scottish Government

Secretariat

• Erin Stewart, Retail Policy Officer, Scottish Government
   

Items and actions

Item 1: Welcome and actions from previous meeting 

• LB welcomed members to the 11th ILG meeting and introduced new members, Kelly O’Sullivan, Wendy Hamilton, Luke McGarty and John McCartney
• LB announced that the Deputy First Minister has agreed to be the new co-chair of the Retail Industry Leadership Group. Due to pre-existing Cabinet responsibilities, Ms Forbes is not able to attend today but has advised that she will be attending our next meeting on 26 November
• LB welcomed Ms Brown, Minister for Victims and Community Safety, who joined for the Police Scotland update
• no members made any comments on actions from the previous meeting

 Item 2: Update from Police Scotland 

ACC Tim Mairs (TM) and DSU Neil McDonald provided an update on the £3m retail crime funding: 

• the task force has now been operating fully since July 
• there has been an 18.9% increase in shoplifting, year on year, down 25% from a few months ago. Though Retailers Against Crime stats suggest a 14% increase in total incidents. It is believed that the rise is largely due to better reporting
• August showed the first small decrease, -0.9% in comparison to last year, though it is unclear if this is related to the task force
• Edinburgh had more reported shoplifting than Glasgow but this is now flattening due to an increase in community policing which Edinburgh has not had since 2016. Reporting in Edinburgh continues to rise.
• Dundee identified in having sharp increases, funding underspend has allowed for allocation of new community officers in the area
• in Glasgow, Police Scotland are focused on youth repeat offenders
• reiterated the importance of industry support and emphasised on the importance of encouraging staff to report incidents 

Retailer feedback

• LM told the Group that Greggs have introduced the Aura system to tackle shoplifting. Shops had previously stopped reporting incidents due to delays. Informed that shoplifting in Edinburgh is severe
• MM noted a reduction of losses in Edinburgh albeit still large and this does indeed reflect the trends shared by Police Scotland
• KO welcomes engagement from Police Scotland and is committed to educating staff on the importance of reporting
• SH has noticed a spike in shoplifting in Dundee with increased violence, they have added security to some stores. They have also rolled out Facewatch security systems 
• LMcG emphasised the importance of sharing success stories, SGF are raising awareness through internal channels. LMcG highlighted that there has been a 124% increase in shoplifting in 4 years. LMcG also noted the progress of the taskforce so far makes a good case for sustained, multi-year funding
• DH stated that theft is a factor in staff reduction and suggested apprenticeships may be a good diversion for young people who are committing retail crime
• LB stated that retail crime is a societal issue and preventative measures should be discussed more by the Industry Leadership Group
• DL suggested tailoring retailer community programmes and there was a general consensus that retailers are proactively trying to engage disadvantaged youths with community programmes however more could be done here, collaborating with Police Scotland on this aspect would be beneficial. DL also noted support for multi-year funding.
• FP asked members for feedback on if they are noticing a difference on the cost of loss
• LM explained it is hard to quantify savings from reporting, it is likely that due to increased reporting the situation will look worse before it looks better. LM suggested that tracking the consequences of shoplifting may be a better way to see faster results
• CS highlighted that direct reporting is impractical for small retailers due to the time it takes to report

Police Scotland response 

• Police Scotland’s strategy is to have a small central task force to support officers in focusing on repeat and prolific offenders 
• the courts are increasingly supportive when provided with full offender details which highlights the importance of reporting and information gathering/sharing between the industry
• Operation Dynos is a diversion tactic used by the task force, it aims to divert youths being exploited by adults and engaging in retail crime by providing them with positive opportunities, this has proven to be a success with a 70% reduction in stolen property in Lanarkshire
• the reporting system pilot in Fife is successful as it reduces waiting time for retailers reporting a crime. There are plans to introduce this to Glasgow
• integration of larger systems such as Aura and Sensus would be beneficial to Police Scotland however this is subject to funding
• Police Scotland understand the importance of preventative measures and are hopeful to build relationships with youth organisations by the end of the year 
• reiterated that they are beginning to see success stories with repeat offenders receiving sentences
• a learning experience with different methods across different areas, this is an opportunity to assess which models work best
• noted that multi-year funding would be welcome and would allow this work to continue and be built upon
• Police Scotland highlighted the resource challenges and acknowledged the difficulties retailers are currently facing. They are seeking continued support from the industry 

Item 3: Hot topics

• DH raised a concern over restricting promotions on foods high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) – The position in UK Government is changing and this is a concern re: different policies in different areas increasing business costs 
• DL raised concerns over shop price inflation, it is at highest in 18 months especially in food sector and it is expected to go up to 6%. This affects those with lower income more. DL also raised the UK budget affecting the Scottish Government spending review and asked that they avoid increasing costs 
• DH also raised concerns over the single use cups ban. This would have an affect on many customers, especially those with allergies, Dobbies have many cafes and cannot guarantee no cross contamination with this policy. 
• LMcG raised concerns over Illicit trade and the single use vape ban as they are being sold illegally, SGF always promote community safety to retailers and would like reassurance that there will be appropriate enforcements in place for those breaching regulations 
• MM raised concerns over the PVG Scheme in Scotland – Boots require PVG for most staff and the wait time in Scotland is 30-40 days causing recruitment delays.
• DH is also finding the PVG check difficult, this may be due to the lack of transferability as it makes the process costly and timely

Item 4: ‘Growing Fair Work in Retail’ resource 

• LB welcomed members to comment on the ‘Growing Fair Work in Retail’ resource which was shared ahead of the meeting. The purpose of this document is to provide information, links to resources, and highlight good practices and examples of Fair Work policies
• LB hopes the document will highlight the positive things the retail industry does and will inspire retailers to implement similar policies
• LB also informed members the document will be published on the Scottish Government website and promoted at a future Peer Works event which is aimed at small business’ who do not have the resources of larger retailers. 
• DH is pleased with document, it is important to bring case studies to life. DH suggested it may be beneficial to engage further with those in the case studies
• KO agrees with the importance of case studies and success stories
• CS requested a couple of small tweaks to the document, including refreshing the ‘helpful links’ section at the end of the document
• SH stated the resource can be inspirational and used as a universal language for the industry and incorporated into the recruitment process 
• DL will promote the document through the Scottish Retail Consortium  
• MM is aware of other directorates doing similar work relating to pharmacy, has shared case studies  

Item 5: Any other business 

• LB informed members that the next Retail Industry Leadership Group meeting will be held in Parliament on 26 November and skills will be agenda item – it is anticipated local partners will present on this topic
• DL queried if any other actions from the retail strategy need to be progressed by the Group, e.g. net zero commitments, as well as noting the proximity to the budget announcement to 26 November; the DFM could potentially speak to this
• officials advise that the net zero action should be based on good examples of what organisations are already doing
• LB requested members to let the secretariat know if they have any future discussion points 

Action points

• members to collate their contacts at charitable organisations who work on prevention for youths and send to Police Scotland and consider “Prevent” as a future agenda item
• Scottish Government HFSS policy colleagues to join future meeting to provide verbal update
• officials to speak to Scottish Government internal comms team to see how they can publicise the resource 
• pull information from retailers on the work they are doing on net zero