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

Attendees and apologies

Board Members

• Alasdair Macdonald - Chair (AMac) Deputy Director, Policy, Scotland Office
• Anne-Marie Martin (AMM) Deputy Director,  Regional Economic Development, Scottish Government
• Alessandro Fusco (AF) Head of Scotland Team, Ministry Housing, Communities and Local Communities
• Eve Wilde (v) (EW) Territorial Office Spending Principal, HM Treasury
• Michelle Cummins (MC) Finance Business Partner, 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

• David Wright (v) (DW) Deputy Director In Flight Funds, MHCLG
• Andrew Kerr (AK) Non-Executive Director, Scotland Office
• Christina Spicer (v) (CS) Senior Policy Advisor - Aberdeen, & Islands, Scotland Office
• Anna Fletcher (AF) Senior Policy Advisor

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
• Anne Ashton (v) (AA) Team Leader - Edinburgh and South Regional Growth Deals
• Allison Rice (v) (AR) Team Leader - Ayrshire and Aberdeen Growth Deals
• Ian Scott (v) (IS) Economic Policy Officer 
• Peter McGregor (v) (PM) Programme Manager

Secretariat

• Brennan Leslie (BL) Policy Advisor, Scotland Office

Items and actions

1.    Welcome, introductions and apologies

AMac opened the meeting, welcoming the new Scotland Office Non-Executive Director, Andrew Kerr, who was attending the Board as an observer as part of his introduction to the Scotland Office.

2.    Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Minutes from the 04 June 2025 Board were approved by correspondence, one minor error noted and already rectified in the public minutes. 

3.    Finance Business Partner Update

An update on finance was discussed.

The current financial position for 2025/26 was detailed, alongside the risks associated with underspend across the programme.

4.    Deals Performance Dashboard

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

5.    Borderlands Simplification

MHCLG set out proposals for governance simplification on the English side of the Borderlands Deal, which is part of a wider UK Government workstream. There was a conversation about how this could impact the whole Deal, and an agreement to continue to work closely as this workstream progresses.

6.    Continuous Improvement

The continuous improvement workstreams were reviewed and discussed. This included a discussion on the monitoring and evaluation workstream and consideration of the options paper. An initial outline was given for the proportionate business case workstream which is currently being scoped. 

7.    Horizon Scanning

There was an update given on latest governmental changes and a look forward to upcoming priorities. 

8.    Risk Register

Updates to the Risk Register were approved and plans made to have a formal review of risks ahead of the next Board. 

9.    Action Tracker

Updates to the action tracker were approved. 

10.    AOB

Final items were raised including upcoming Ministerial meetings. 

11.    Close and next meeting

AMac thanked everyone for their contributions and closed the meeting.
The next meeting is to be chaired by SG and a hold has been put in place for the 3rd December.