Scottish National Investment Bank: Ministerial Advisory Group minutes - October 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Richard Rollison (co-chair)
• John Glen (co-chair)
• Roz Foyer
• Irene Graham
• Nathan Elstub
• Emma Congreve

Supporting officials

• Andy Hogg
• Pat Crolla
• Connie Penman
• Rudi Mills

Items and actions

Welcome and opening remarks

Members were welcomed to the fourth meeting of the Ministerial Advisory Group for the Scottish National Investment Bank. It was noted that the group had met with the bank for a discussion on the bank’s impact reporting since the last quarterly meeting took place on 2 July 2025. 

Group business

There were no new declarations of interest and it was noted that the previous meeting minutes were now available online. It was also noted that Maggie Craig had stepped down from the group and members expressed their thanks for her contributions.

Action 1.3 remains partially complete. Meeting dates up to the Scottish election remain tbc. Action 2.8 and 3.4 remain ongoing. All other actions were noted as complete.

Members discussed:

• CEO recruitment process
• recent administration announcements
• housing investment
• UK and Scottish budget
• Financial Transaction Control Framework and PUFIN designation
• UK and SG Industrial Strategies
• stakeholder mapping and collaboration at a Scottish and UK level
• Carolyn Jameson has been appointed as the new Senior Independent Director

The following actions were agreed:

• action 4.1: Source housing insights paper. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 30 Jan 2026
• action 4.2: Share PAC Convener letter and response. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 30 Jan 2026

Key discussion points

Reflections on the impact session with the bank

• aligning investments with the three missions
• bank skills and resource including analytical expertise (e.g. economists, social researchers, statisticians etc)
• retrospective reporting
• theory of change and strategy
• impact integration in to investment processes
• ‘unsuccessful’ projects
• weighting of impact and commerciality
• additionality
• mission definitions and metrics 
• linking strategy to investments and impacts
• benchmarking 
• investment communications/announcements

The following action was agreed:

• action 4.3: Members to provide impact reporting best practice examples to Secretariat. Action for: Members. Action by: 30 Jan 2026

Proposed approach for the first five-year performance review

Andy Hogg presented options for the statutory five-year performance review. Members discussed scope, timing, and process. Key points included:

• as per legislation, the review must cover the bank’s performance from inception to November 2025
• it must assess performance against the bank’s objects, strategic missions, and relevant national performance indicators
• existing material and related review documents 
• Scottish election timings
• Audit Scotland’s report
• the potential for commissioned analytical work
• the preferred profile of the appointed person 
• consolidating existing material
• reporting on progress to date given a 10 year capitalisation commitment

Any other business

• members discussed updates to the potential letter proposed for sending to DFM
• members proposed future learning sessions with external experts to broaden perspectives
• it was agreed a review of membership / skills matrix would be considered following the election and five-year review

Forward look

Group members agreed to the following actions as next steps:

• action 4.4: Redraft DFM letter. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 30 Jan 2026
• action 4.5: Secretariat to explore options for future thematic learning sessions post-election and five year review. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 26 June 2026
• action 4.6: Provide members with standard communication lines and protocol for public engagement. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 30 Jan 2026
• action 4.7: Secretariat to send the link to the bank’s newsletter to group members to ensure they are kept up to date with official communications. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 30 Jan 2026
• action 4.8: Group skills / gap analysis to be planned for post-election and five year review. Action for: Secretariat. Action by: 26 June 2026