CONSUMER SCOTLAND
STRATEGIC BOARD MEETING
Tuesday 19th August 2025
10:00am – 1:00pm
Thistle House
Minute
Board Members present:
David Wilson, Chair (DW)
Nick Martin, Member (NM)
Angela Morgan, Member (AM)
James Walker, Member (JW)
Also in attendance:
Sam Ghibaldan, Chief Executive
Sue Bomphray, Director of Operations and Partnerships
David Eiser, Director of Research, Analysis and Investigations
Douglas White, Director of Policy and Advocacy
Jill Rosie, Assistant Director of Operations and Partnerships (item 3)
Gail Walker, Head of Water (item 5)
Agnes Robson, Chair, Independent Customer Group (Item 5)
Gordon Matheson, Vice Chair, Independent Customer Group (Item 5)
Polly Mazurkiewicz, Secretariat
Gemma Black, Secretariat
Apologies:
None
Welcome and Declaration of Interest
1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting taking place at Thistle House.
2. No apologies were noted for the meeting.
3. The Board welcomed Gemma Black, who would be taking over secretariat responsibilities for the Board moving forward.
4. The Chair invited any Declarations of Interest and/or Transparency Statements of and none were declared.
Minutes from previous Board meeting
5. The minutes from the previous meeting, held on 17th June, were approved.
Action Tracker
6. The Director of Operations and Partnerships provided an update on actions arising from previous meetings. It was noted that:
· The refreshed Framework Agreement document was still awaiting final approval from the Scottish Government (SG)
- The proposed Board visit to ADS and the EHU would be moved to February from December, owing to the December Board being held online
- The proposed Heat Networks visit would be postponed from February as this will now clash with the ADS and AHU visit, with a new date to be identified.
Key issues update and general discussion
- Statutory Review of Performance
7. The Assistant Director of Operations and Partnerships joined the meeting remotely to discuss the terms of reference of the Statutory Review of Performance.
8. Following on from previous board discussion, Board members considered the draft remit and agreed the review needs to focus on Consumer Scotland’s performance of its functions and provide the review the opportunity to provide comments and reflections.
An action was taken to finalise the draft remit.
9. The Board members noted the requirement for transparency and impartiality regarding the individual or organisation chosen to complete the review. The Director of Operations and Partnerships provided assurance that this would be achieved through the procurement process.
10. The Assistant Director of Operations and Partnerships thanked members for their feedback and left the meeting.
- Investigation scene setting paper
11. The Chief Executive provided an update on the proposed topic for Consumer Scotland’s next Investigation, ahead of the Board formally receiving a proposal at the September meeting. Following a prioritisation exercise, the next investigation was expected to focus on the used car market. The Director of Research, Analysis and Investigations noted that the used car market was known to have high levels of complaints and detriment, and therefore the sector fell within the legislative remit for Consumer Scotland to investigate.
12. The Board supported the topic in principle, noting that it was a broad topic and that the scope should be appropriately developed and defined.
- Ministerial roundtables update
13. The Chief Executive fed back to the Board on recent meetings with the recently appointed Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Màiri McAllan, which had been constructive and discussed the upcoming refreshed Heat in Buildings Bill and the associated delivery plan, as well as general housing policy.
The Director of Research, Analysis and Investigations joined a UK Government Data Sharing Energy with Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Miatta Fahnbulleh, which had recently concluded. The purpose of this group was to identify ways better data sharing could improve targeting of support for consumers by energy suppliers.
Annual Report and Accounts
14. The Director of Operations and Partnerships provided a progress update on the Annual Report and Accounts for 2024-2025. Audit fieldwork is almost complete, with constructive dialogue taking place with external auditors Deloitte. The draft report was expected to be ready in the next couple of weeks, in good time for formal sign off at the September Board meeting. It was noted that auditors no longer felt there would be an ongoing requirement for Consumer Scotland to publish Board papers, and that the requirement to produce a 10-year financial plan will remain.
Budget Planning
- Budget sign off following DBT Grant Confirmation
15. The Director of Operations and Partnerships provided an update on grant funding arrangements, noting:
- Formal budget confirmation from the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) has now been received
- Some of the budget previously allocated to heat networks advice has been reallocated to upskilling and awareness raising of the support available to heat network consumers
- The budget line of £900k for Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) has been formally moved to us in the Autumn budget revision
- We are awaiting formal confirmation from SG on employer national insurance increases, expected at the next budget review (Spring). This is already accounted for in our budget internally
- It was proposed to transfer £30k to Accommodation to cover the increased costs at Saint Vincent Plaza
The Board thanked the Director of Operations and Partnerships for her update and formally signed off the budget.
Medium to Long Term Financial Planning
16. The Director of Operations and Partnerships updated the Board on medium to long term financial planning. Work is currently underway to produce a 10-year strategy for Consumer Scotland, following the publication of the Scottish Government’s own Medium Term Financial Strategy. It was noted that the strategy would be used to support the next round of budget negotiations with SG.
17. The Board fed back that:
- Further clarity was required on costs such as accommodation and Oracle to inform effective scenario planning
- The methodology used to calculate inflationary uplift should be made explicit in the document
- The Board should undertake scenario planning exercises to ensure readiness for the most challenging outlooks
The Director of Operations thanked Board members and an action was taken to consolidate feedback into the next draft of the financial strategy, and to explore additional scenario planning.
Budget Discussion
18. The Director of Operations and Partnerships updated the Board on budget negotiations with SG for the next financial year. All Public Bodies are being asked to model for a 20% reduction in corporate function costs. We have communicated that this would be extremely challenging for us as we have already been set up lean, however we continue to manage our budget prudently and look for savings opportunities where possible. It was noted that a full budget update will follow at the September meeting.
Recruitment process for Board Members
19. The Chair provided an update on Board member recruitment which is being led by the Scottish Government.
Recruitment criteria had been confirmed, seeking candidates with senior experience in a consumer facing field, and expertise in financial management and control.
The posts were expected to be advertised over the next two weeks with interviews taking place in November, with new members hopefully in post for the February Board.
The Chair asked Board members and the executive team to share the advertisements with their professional networks.
20. It was noted that, in support of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018, the recruitment exercise would include a session hosted by Changing the Chemistry, to support the acts aim of achieving a 50% gender balance on public sector Boards. AM agreed to join the session.
21. On a separate matter, the Chief Executive updated members that as part of the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023, which comes into force on 31 August 2025, existing and future Board members can no longer sit on the Board of a public body in Scotland if they have ever been disqualified as a charity trustee. While there was no expectation that this would impact any CS Board members, the Director of Operations and Partnerships would write to members to confirm this.
Challenge pillar update - SRC 2027-2033
22. The Chair welcomed Agnes Robson, Chair and Gordon Matheson, Vice Chair of the Independent Customer Group (ICG) to the meeting.
23. The Chief Executive refreshed Board Members on the Memorandum of Understanding between CS, Scottish Water and WICS, which was entered into in November 2024 to ensure that consumers are engaged throughout a process to determine future water and waste water charges for Scottish Water customers. This process is known as the Strategic Review of Charges for 2027-2033 (SRC27).
The MoU sets out three core pillars to deliver against its remit: Research, Challenge and Confirmation.
24. The ICG Chair and Vice Chair thanked the Chief Executive for his introduction and noted that they were here to provide an update on the ICG’s work to deliver the Challenge pillar of the MoU, which uses evidence generated from its Research Advisory Group to challenge Scottish Water to put customer’s needs and expectations sat the heart of its business plan, noting its accountability to Consumer Scotland in this process.
25. The Chair and Vice Chair provided a detailed update on:
- ICG arrangements and reporting
- The ICG’s Challenge Log
- what is working
- and ongoing issues of interest to the ICG
26. The Chair thanked the ICG Chair and Vice chair for their detailed update and noted that the Board looked forward to meeting with them again in due course for further updates and discussion as the process progresses.
27. The Chair of Consumer Scotland’s Committee on Consumers in Vulnerable Circumstances (CCVC) suggested that the committee could contribute and strengthen the ICG’s work on monitoring development and delivery of Scottish Water on delivering for vulnerable consumers. The Director of Policy and Advocacy offered to follow up with the ICG to discuss further.
28. The ICG Chair and Vice Chair then left the meeting.
Accommodation
29. The Chair invited the Director of Operations and Partnerships to update members on work taking place on accommodation arrangements for Consumer Scotland.
30. The Director of Operations and Partnerships noted that:
- The current arrangement with SVP would end at the end of the financial year, at which point cost increases would likely become prohibitive. Arrangements for next year onwards were being scoped
- In the meantime, as a temporary solution, budget had been reallocated to increase desk numbers in SVP to 12, to accommodate increasing staff numbers
- An updated options paper will be presented to the Board before the end of the year to decide next steps
The Board welcomed the paper, noting that staff should be able to utilise office space in Edinburgh and Glasgow in line with their employment terms and conditions. After a number of suggestions from the Board, it was agreed that an enhanced timeline for decisions was added to the paper. The Chair thanked the Director of Operations and Partnerships for her paper, who took an action to prepare an updated paper for the November or December meeting.
AOB
31. There being no other business, the meeting closed.