Single Scottish Estate Programme Delivery Board meeting minutes - October 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Scott McEwen, Head of Property Services, Scottish Government

• Michael Walker, Senior Finance Business Partner, Scottish Government

• Ian Bowie, Senior Policy Officer, Scottish Government

• Neil Milligan, Principal Estates Surveyor, Scottish Government

• Kirsty Lamb, Project Manager, Scottish Government

• David Lyon, Data Co-Workstream Lead, Scottish Government

• Gordon Alexander, Estate Strategy and Planning Advisor, Scottish Government

• Fiona MacDonald, Programme Manager, Scottish Government

• Scott McQueen, Public Bodies Strategic Lead, Scottish Government

• Luke McGuire, Data Co-Workstream Lead, Scottish Government

• Barbara Crowe, Business Manager, Scottish Government

• some attenddees have been redacted

Apologies

• Graham Mitchell, Head of Technical Architecture, Scottish Government

• Stuart McQuarrie, Deputy Director Business Services & Transformation, NatureScot

• Louise Gardiner, Head of Digital Estate & Asset Management, NHS National Service Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions 

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting, and noted apologies from those unable to attend

Minutes of last meeting and actions 

The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The Chair indicated that the terms of reference action has now been completed.

The question and answer document has been included within the board pack sent to members prior to the meeting, and also the draft communications strategy.

Question:  if the pre meeting documents circulated could in future have greater clarity on actions undertaken prior to the meeting.

The Chair indicated that the point had been noted, highlighting actions will be clear within minutes.

Single Scottish Estate (SSE) programme summary 

The Chair summarised the following: 

Location Based Reviews (LBR)

• the LBR for Edinburgh is underway, Gordon Alexander will update later in the meeting
• working on Perth LBR with Perth and Kinross Council for a proposed co location in Pullar House
• proposal agreed for co-location of SG Core staff with Accountant in Bankruptcy office in Kilwinning
• review work in Inverness has started with some engagements and data analysis

Communications and engagement 

• planning ministerial visits to Dundee Hub, BE-ST factory in Hamilton
• parliament event for stakeholders in planning
• bespoke website on hold due to spending constraints.- alternatives being investigated via Scottish Government main website

Data 

• Insite go-live is March 2025, have received proposed list of mandatory and voluntary fields
• for data to upload from e-PIMS to Insite, 100% of mandatory and 50% of voluntary fields must be completed
• public bodies were briefed and given access to the list on Tuesday 17 September

Glasgow Office Project (GOP)

• ministers confirmed that new build solution will not go ahead
• GOP will look at alternatives using existing estate
• completed budget review for next phase
• workshop to be held to establish in-scope options for next phases of project
• supported Minister for Public Finance visit to Education Scotland and SQA accommodation at Optima Building on 8 October
• business case updated for Disclosure Scotland’s temporary lease extensionat Pacific Quay and submitted for ministerial approval. Minister for Public finance visited Pacific Quay on 28 October
• develop submission paper on next phase options for ministerial feedback

Property controls

• business case templates have been created with aim of explaining what a clear business case should look like. The template is aimed to be used as a checklist of all key components which need to be covered, when undertaking  a review
• the guidance and templates have both been reviewed by Workplace Division and also selected external stakeholders

Programme Management Office (PMO)

• FMacD has replaced LB as Programme Manager, who has returned to BE-ST
• MB is a new BE-ST secondment – who will join as Project Coordinator from 4 November 2024. Undertaking a market value process regarding stakeholders, ensuring transparency for stakeholders
• developing a matrix for data capture, thus enabling a ‘live’ status of the project at any point in time
• RAG status of the SSE Project is currently ‘green/amber’
• advisory board met on 10 October, senior stakeholder group on 12 September, and Property Forum on 17 September
• KL from SG has joined as PMO/Project Manager
• work going on in background by KL to close any gaps in the SSE programme, supporting KH

The Chair thanked FMacD and asked the Board if they had any questions.

Question: The Chair noted a question from online, regarding the risk register and workstreams.

The Chair indicated that the risk register is being used to monitor the RAG status of each of the workstreams, and the project overall to ensure that risks were being minimised.

Location Based Reviews

NM gave an update:

• will be writing up each of the LBR’s. Currently finalising the Ayr LBR
• aiming to get LBR’s published, and also to ensure transparency, but some information is being withheld due to commercial confidentiality. Edinburgh LBR, public sector estate in Edinburgh is large and complex
• properties located across Edinburgh with a mixture of owned and leased buildings
• consolidation and co-locations have already taken place, but with the adoption of hybrid working, the current estate is oversized and not fully utilised. Edinburgh LBR will inform an overarching strategy for the future of the Edinburgh public sector estate
• developing case studies for the Minister of Public Finance, for various locations across Scotland. Gordon Alexander, Scottish Government noted:
• public sector estate in Edinburgh is large extending out to the Gyle. Consolidations happening already in Edinburgh, e.g. Number of organisations have moved already into Edinburgh City Council HQ, at Waverley Court. Official Sensitive - Commercial
• good work already being done requesting data from public bodies. Some gaps in this, which is to be expected, working to reduce those gaps
• delivering stakeholder engagement, not feasible to speak to all of them at the same time so managing in phases
• doing research which will take us through to around March 2025 for a first report on the work
• looking at the overarching strategy of what is possible in Edinburgh, and looking for opportunities which can be highlighted sooner rather than later

The Chair indicated that there are many opportunities in Edinburgh for consolidation, which are being looked at.

Communications and engagement (CE)

The Chair invited KL to give an update on the communications and engagement strategy.

• the CE plan, looking for feedback by 13 November
• strategy is in two sections: one is around the board, and the second is around the stakeholder groups
• two documents sent to board members
• one is around the strategy for CE with the board and CE with stakeholder groups
• second is the FAQ document. Inviting feedback on this, and whether there are any questions which should be added. It also attempts to answer questions on the current position of the programme. The aim is that this will become a living document throughout the life of the SSE programme

KL took the board members through a series of online questions via the Menti online app, which enabled feedback to a series of questions put to participants to be collected. This feedback will underpin the principles of the SSE programme.

The Chair indicated that the following Friday he would be speaking at Scottish Heads of Property Services (SHoPS) to increase engagement to stakeholders.

The Chair thanked KL for the update, and invited any questions.

Question: Asked about the consistency of communication regarding the SSE.

The Chair indicated that it was a fair point, and that for example in the case of the Glasgow Office Project keen to ensure there is consistent and clear communication to staff, and to ensure that they are the first to hear about it, from the SSE project rather than from elsewhere. 

Communications and engagement (CE)

The Chair asked if there was any further business – none were raised.

The Chair thanked members for their attendance, and invited members to think about the agenda, and noted that he would welcome any suggestions for topics.

The Chair brought the meeting to a close.