National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board minutes: August 2024

Attendees and apologies

Present

• Kate Forbes, Co-chair, Deputy First Minister & Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Gaelic
• Barry White, Co-Chair, Former Chief Executive, Scottish Futures Trust
• Douglas Millican, Former CEO, Scottish Water
• Roz Foyer, General Secretary, Scottish Trade Union Congress
• Gillian Docherty, Chief Commercial Officer, University of Strathclyde
• Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive, Cyrenians
• Uzma Khan, Vice Principle Economic Development and Innovation, and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, University of Glasgow
• Ellis Watson, Former Chief Executive, DC Thomson Media Group

Apologies

• Audrey Cumberford, Principal and Chief Executive Edinburgh College
• Sir Simon Lister, Managing Director, BAE Systems Naval Ships
• Nora Senior, Former Executive Group Chair, Weber Shandwick and past Chair, Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board

Supporting Officials

• Gregor Irwin, Director General Economy, Scottish Government
• Aidan Grisewood, Director Jobs and Wellbeing Economy, Scottish Government
• Richard Rollison, Director of International Trade and Investment, Scottish Government
• Colin Cook, Director of Economic Development, Scottish Government
• Judith Young, Deputy Director Strategic Economic and Business Investment, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Introduction and Welcome

Barry welcomed members to the 14th meeting of the NSET Delivery Board. Barry cleared the minute from the last meeting of 29 May 2024 and outlined the meeting agenda.

As a follow up to an action from the last meeting BW and DM met with DG Net Zero  and had a very positive discussion on the progress being made. BW and DM still have a concern about the clarity on ownership and accountability between SG and delivery partners on specific actions. DG Economy was asked to pursue this issue with DG Net Zero/Portfolio Board and update at the next meeting.

Programme for Government & NSET Delivery Plans  - Deputy First Minister

The DFM welcomed members to the Board and provided an overview of agenda item two.

DFM highlighted the importance of updating NSET Delivery plans to align with the SG’s key priorities and reaffirmed her commitment to delivering green growth for Scotland. DFM noted that progress has been made on NSET to date and that future delivery plans will build on the foundations put in place when the strategy was initially published. DFM added that the update to NSET delivery plans will not introduce new ideas but seek to focus on delivering on commitments.

DFM expressed desire to align PfG and NSET activity with a focus on fewer, deliverable and impactful actions. PfG provides the vehicle to deliver NSET commitments where cross government action  is required and DFM highlighted she has been meeting with Cabinet colleagues on relevant PfG economic actions to ensure we can deliver on NSET priorities. 

DFM introduced Aidan Grisewood to provide a brief overview of the key economic commitments within this year's PfG and the plan ahead for NSET Delivery plans. The following was noted:

• PfG commitments being finalised internally
• Delivery Board input and challenge to the process has been helpful
• there are economic commitments within PfG in addition to the NSET priorities e.g. transport infrastructure. Taken together they represent a collective responsibility to help grow the economy
• a focussed set of projects and actions for inclusion within NSET Delivery plans are in development based on the PfG priorities

Aidan then invited each of the NSET Pillar Sponsors to cover their individual commitments that are expected to form part of the PfG and future NSET Delivery Plans.

People Pillar:

On Tackling Economic Inactivity, the people pillar seeks to link into health and ensure services work better for employees. On migration, we need to ensure that we are attracting skills to Scotland, working with UK Government (UKG) on areas such as the visa pilot. On skills reform, sector specific skills, as well as national and regional skills prioritisation.

Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Productivity pillar:

Plans for 7 projects which fall under 3 separate packages. The first package on entrepreneurship focuses on the capability of being a start-up nation. On Innovation we are considering the research/capability of our universities to ensure a competitive advantage. Lastly on productivity we seek to achieve a distinct regional network / economic development across the regions. Public Sector reform is a key part of economic regional development. 

Making Business Easier pillar:

The New Deal for Business Group is now coming up to 12 months of the 18-month programme. Progress is on track, including capability of SG business engagement. Business engagement forms a key commitment within PfG, ensuring that policy development considers the view of business. Although the progress of the New Deal work is sometimes difficult to measure, there has been noticeable progress in the population health space and the team continue to work across DG Net Zero/housing/tax and skills space to ensure the views of business are considered and engagement moves in the right direction.

Investment pillar:

Investment is at core of economic growth plan and that will be reflected in PfG. Work is underway to ensure that the SG are allocating funds were required to support development in Offshore wind and supply chain, which is key to success in the investment space. Housing also forms part of the investment pillar, and we are working to deliver affordable housing, whilst promoting private investment alongside public investment. The Investor Panel set out recommendations which will form an important part of plans moving forward. There is a need for ensuring we are as competitive as we can be as nation in the investment space. 

DFM invited members feedback and expressed the need to ensure that pillars are kept as focussed as possible due to fiscal challenges.

The Board's main points on PfG/NSET plans fed back to the pillar sponsors included:

People

• important we are engaging with UKG to align actions on people; a joined-up approach is more likely to ensure progress
• people pillar requires work to ensure language is accessible with clear explanations that can be easily understood
• skills is an area that requires further work to meet outcomes
• skills system reform requires consideration for those working in education (HE/FE). More worker voices required to resolve skills issues

Housing

• messaging on housing needs to focus on the wider economic context and include the reduction on child poverty and better health outcomes
• further consideration required on publicly owned land, allowing housing to be built in appropriate areas, at an affordable price
• the Rent bill needs to have consistency, if a cap exists this should be consistent with attracting investment under the Investment pillar. The lack of consistency will not attract investors
• more public investment in housing required to realise the wider economic benefits

Green Transition

• there is vast and welcome activity in the Offshore Wind space but is there sufficient clarity whether that level of activity is reaching our ambition? The ambition requires review to see if there are further opportunities in this area that could be utilised appropriately
• clarity on exactly what will be done to attract investment in the green space required to meet ambition
• the University sector is struggling financially - this is a key interdependency for green transition

Business

• concerned about lack of employee voice as part of the New Deal for Business Group

Artificial Intelligence

• AI will impact public sector reform, could be a significant opportunity, and this needs to be both considered and embraced

General

• specific ambitions or targets required as part of PfG particularly on housing and green transition

DFM closed the agenda item noting:

• housing is the most fundamental economic issue for Scotland
• housing sits within the Director General Communities within the Scottish Government, alongside Tackling Child Poverty and Social Security teams and DFM is keen to increase supply for overall economic growth
• both the social and economic aspects of housing are important
• skills is facing many conflicting demands in this area, preventing progress being made

Update on Future NSET Governance

Barry highlighted that the NSET Delivery Board will continue as part of future NSET Governance and handed to officials to provide an overview of refreshing NSET Governance structures:

• advice is in progress for ministers on setting up ministerial oversight on growing the Scottish economy that would tie in with the work of the Delivery Board
• the establishment of this new Ministerial group would need to be considered within the context of governance proposals for overseeing the delivery of PfG priority commitments 
• existing energy and ‘green economy’ forums also must be considered as part of any proposals
• the introduction of ministerial oversight will likely impact the current terms of reference (ToR) for the NSET Delivery Board as it stands, so a further update will be provided to Board members before the next scheduled meeting of the group

Barry states that on membership, that as planned there will be some board rotation, 7 of the 9 members have agreed that they will continue as members for another 2 years and that it is expected that at least 2 new members will join the Delivery Board. The intention is to introduce one person from a housing perspective, one from a renewable energy perspective.

Closing and any other business

DFM concludes the meeting noting that the next meeting of the NSET Delivery Board will take place in November and the Secretariat will be in touch to finalise details.

Actions

• DG Economy to report back at next meeting on accountability and ownership for economic aspects of net zero.
• pillar leads to consider feedback as action plans are developed
• relevant Board champions to have follow up session on targets/ambitions before the next board meeting to understand existing and possible ambitions in housing and green transition. Information on possible ambitions to be circulated in advance of the next Board meeting
• Secretariat to follow up with members with advice on future membership as arrangements progress. Now completed
• Secretariat to set up 1-1 meetings with co-chair Barry White and Board members to discuss how members could best feed into future Delivery Board meetings and help to progress key workstreams in between scheduled meetings. Now completed
• Secretariat to schedule quarterly meetings for 2024/25 and share with Delivery Board Members. Now completed