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Publication - Minutes

Scottish City Region and Growth Deal Delivery Board minutes: December 2025

Published
20 February 2026
Directorate
Economic Development Directorate
Topic
Economy
Date of meeting
3 December 2025
Date of next meeting
11 March 2026

Minutes from the meeting of the group on 3 December 2025

Part of

Attendees and apologies

Board Members

Scottish Government

  • Miriam Simpson (MS) Head of Local Growth and City Deals, Scotland Office (job-share)
  • Beth Hall (BH) Head of Local Growth and City Deals, Scotland Office (job-share)
  • Kate Bryson (KB) Head of East & West of Scotland Growth Deals
  • Kimberley Daly (KD) Head of Highlands, Islands, Edinburgh and South Growth Deals

UKG Officials

  • Brennan Leslie (v) (BL) Policy Advisor, Scotland Office
  • Nathan Lappin (v) NB Team Leader, Scotland Office
  • Anna MacMillan (AM) Deputy Head of Scotland Office (New co-Chair. Attending in observer capacity)

SG Officials

  • Andrew Morris (AMo) Investment Governance Portfolio Team Leader
  • Fiona Loynd (v) (FL) Regional Economic Development Team Leader
  • Kenneth Robertson (v) (KR) Regional Economic Development Team Leader
  • Jennifer Treasure (v) (JT) Regional Economic Development Team Leader
  • Anne Ashton (v) (AA) Team Leader - Edinburgh and South Regional Growth Deals
  • Allison Rice (v) (AR) Team Leader - Ayrshire and Aberdeen Growth Deals

Secretariat

  • Ian Scott (IS) Economic Policy Officer     
  • Peter McGregor (PM) Programme Manager

Items and actions

1.    Welcome, introductions and apologies

AMM opened the meeting, welcoming AM who attended the meeting as an observer ahead of AMac moving posts. Introductions were made for AM’s benefit.

2.    Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Minutes from the 24 September 2025 Board, paper 2, were approved. AF summarised proposed edits that were shared by email prior to the board. The board approved the minutes with these edits included.

3.    Finance Business Partner Update

An update on finance was discussed.

4.    Deals Performance Dashboard

The following Deals were selected for in depth discussion: Islands, Ayrshire, Borderlands, Tay Cities, and Moray. This included discussions on progress made to date, opportunities and challenges. 

5.    Continuous Improvement 

Progress of Continuous Improvement workstreams was discussed in detail. The  draft Deal Closure Paper was discussed with an expectation that this would be finalised and circulated to local partners by the end of the calendar year                    

6.    Horizon Scanning

Key political developments were discussed, particularly the recent UK Government budget, and discussion within both governments regarding regional devolution.

7.    Risk Review 

A proposal for evolving the programme’s risk management approach was presented and discussed. The Board where content to move forward with this proposal. The overall risk position was reviewed and relevant risks updated and closed where relevant. 

8.    Action Tracker

Outstanding actions were discussed and emerging actions highlighted for the next Board.

9.    AOB

Anne-Marie Martin noted that this was Alasdair Macdonald’s last Board and thanked him for his work and contribution. She welcomed Anna MacMillan, who attended this meeting as an observer, to her role as co-Chair.

10.    Close and next meeting

Date: 11 March 2026 in AQ5.
Scottish Government to chair.

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