Scottish City Region and Growth Deal Delivery Board minutes: November 2022

Attendees and apologies

Board members

• Karen McAvenue, Chair (KM). Scottish Government, Regional Economic Development Deputy Director
• Kris Krasnowski, Chair (KK). Scotland Office, Deputy Director, Policy
• John Wilkinson (JW).UK Government, DLUHC, Deputy Director
• Maria Christie (MC). Scottish Government, Finance Business Partner
• Elma Durdevic (ED). HM Treasury, Senior Policy Adviser (attended remotely)

UK Government (UKG) officials 

• Miriam Simpson (MS). Head of City and Growth Deals Team, Scotland Office
• Craig Birrell (CB). Team Leader, City and Growth Deals Team, Scotland Office
• Lizzie Davies (LD). Team Leader, City and Growth Deals Team, Scotland Office
• Lauren Bruce (LB). Deputy Director, UKG Cities and Local Growth

Scottish Government (SG) officials

• Kate Bryson (KB). Deals Policy Manager / Head of Regional Economic Development - East of Scotland
• Kimberley Daly (KD). Head of Highlands, Islands and South of Scotland
• Rachel Phillips (RP) West Team / Unit Head - Regional Policy
• Kate Gwynn (KG). Team Leader, Highlands and Islands Economy
• Christine Johnstone (CJ). Senior Policy Adviser

Secretariat

• Peter McGregor (PMG). SG, Regional Economic Development Programme Manager

Items and actions

Welcome, introduction and apologies

KM welcomed everyone to the meeting and there were no apologies to record.

Minutes

The Board confirmed the minutes of 13 July 2022 are an accurate record of what was discussed. There were no matters arising.

Finance business partner update

An update on finance was provided.

Action tracker

Updates to the action tracker were approved.

Risk register

Updates to the Risk Register were approved.

One new risk on potential future constitutional change and the potential impact on Deal delivery was added.

Performance dashboard

KB lead a discussion on the Performance Dashboard by exception and suggestions to improve the report were discussed to improve its functionality.

It was suggested by KK and agreed by the Board that future, alternate, board agendas would be constructed to support a detailed review of the Performance Dashboard rather than reviewing by exception.

Closed board session

Closed board session: confidential discussion.

Any other business

Aberdeen Checkpoint Review

KB provided a verbal update.

KB noted this had been a valuable exercise to discuss performance, lessons learned and future programme delivery with ACRD project managers.

The board agreed that minutes from the 4 checkpoint review meetings would be added to the agenda and finalised at the ACRD Annual Conversation scheduled to take place on the 12th of December 2022.

JW leaving board

JW shared that he is leaving DLUHC and therefore the board.

Date of next meeting and close

The next meeting will be hosted by UKG in Edinburgh. SG will provide the secretariat.

The next board will be in late-February or early March.