Scottish City Region and Growth Deals Delivery Board: March 2025

Attendees and apologies

Board Members

Anne-Marie Martin - Chair (AMM)  Scottish Government Regional Economic Development, Deputy Director

Alasdair Macdonald (v) (AMD) Scotland Office, Deputy Director, Policy

Alessandro Fusco (v) (AF)  MHCLG, Head of Scotland Team

Eve Wilde (v) (EW) Territorial Office Spending Principal, HMT

Michelle Cummins (MC) Scottish Government, Finance Business Partner UKG Officials

Miriam Simpson (MS) Head of Local Growth and City Deals, Scotland Office

Beth Hall (BH) Head of Local Growth and City Deals, Scotland Office

Laura Barker (v) (LB) Team Leader – Ayrshire, Edinburgh & Glasgow

SG Officials

Kate Bryson (KB) Head of East & West of Scotland Growth Deals

Kimberley Daly (KD) Head of Highlands, Islands, Edinburgh and South Growth Deals

Andrew Morris (AMo) Investment Governance Portfolio Team Leader

Allison Rice (AR) Team Leader – Ayrshire and Aberdeen Growth Deals  

Secretariat
Peter McGregor (PMG)  RED Programme Manager, SG

Observers attending virtually:

Scotland Office: Craig Birrell, Christina Spicer (CS), Brennan Leslie

Scottish Government: Anne Ashton, Kenneth Robertson, Jennifer Treasure, Fiona Loynd, Ian Scott

 

Items and actions

1.    Welcome, introductions and apologies

AMM welcomed everyone to the meeting.
AMM asked for confirmation on who will be the permanent board members from HMT and MHCLG.
Following the board, EW confirmed she will be the board member for HMT. With Sarah White deputising if necessary.
Following the board, AF confirmed he will be the board member for MHCLG

2.    Minutes

Minutes from the 19 November 2024 board were approved.
AMM noted the abbreviation for Miriam Simpson in the attendee table was wrong. This has now been corrected.

3.    Finance Business Partner Update

An update on finance was discussed.
The current financial position for 2024/25 was detailed alongside the 2025/26 budget. The wider programme financial landscape was also discussed now all 12 Deals had moved into delivery.

4.    Deals Performance Dashboard

Deals were discussed by exception.  Recent and upcoming Annual Conversations were discussed in terms of progress and issues raised.  In particular this enabled board members who do not attend annual conversations to get a sense of points that were noted.  

5.    Continuous Improvement

The continuous improvement workstreams were reviewed and discussed.

6.    Risk Register

Updates to the Risk Register were discussed and approved.

7.    Action Tracker

Updates to the action tracker were approved.

8.    AOB

The Economy and fair Work Committee inquiry on Scotland’s City Region and Regional Growth Deals was discussed noting that the report from the Committee is still awaited. 

9.    Close and next meeting

AMM thanked everyone for their contributions and closed the meeting.