CONSUMER SCOTLAND
INVESTIGATION ENDORSEMENT MEETING
Friday 2 May
11:30-12:30
By MS Teams
Minute
Board Members present:
David Wilson, Chair
Nick Martin, Member (NM)
Angela Morgan, Member (AM)
James Walker, Member (JW)
Lesley Halliday, Member (LH)
Also in attendance:
Sam Ghibaldan, Chief Executive
David Eiser, Director of Research and Analysis
Douglas White, Director of Policy and Advocacy
Craig McClue, Head of Investigations
Paul Smith, Investigations Manager
Polly Mazurkiewicz, Secretariat
Apologies:
Sue Bomphray, Director of Operations and Partnerships
Welcome and Declaration of Interest
1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Board which had been arranged in addition to the normal schedule of meetings, to endorse Consumer Scotland’s first investigation report: Converting Scotland’s Home Heating.
2. The Chair asked attendees to declare any conflicts of interest
3. JW declared an interest with the Government endorsed quality scheme, TrustMark, which is mentioned in the investigation report. JW was in negotiations with TrustMark in a professional capacity, on a service to improve the market.
4. The Chair thanked JW for his declaration. It was agreed that this did not exempt JW from participating in the meeting. It was noted for the record that JW was active in this part of the market.
5. LH updated members on a recruitment matter. She had recently been appointed to sit on the Ofgem Decision Panel. As the appointment was a civil service role, LH regrettably needed to tender her resignation as a Consumer Scotland Board member. Her last Board meeting would be 20 May 2025.
6. The Chair and members thanked LH for her contribution to Consumer Scotland. Formal steps would be taken to take forward her resignation with Scottish Ministers.
Investigation Endorsement
7. The Head of Investigations and the Investigations Manager provided a high level overview of the final investigation report, which the Board has received prior to the meeting.
8. The report as a whole received excellent feedback from Board members.
9. Members discussed the key issues highlighted by the report and offered feedback on final drafting. In summary:
· The executive summary should be redrafted to better summarise the wider report. An additional forward could be added to provide scene setting and context.
· Positive feedback was received on the recommendations and how these were presented.
· Members found the visual elements of the presentation particularly strong and requested these be echoed in the final publication
· There is an opportunity to articulate how we want the Scottish Government to respond to our recommendations
10. The Chair thanked everyone for their helpful feedback and thanked the Investigations team for their tremendous efforts.
11. Pending the suggestions made by members, the Board formally endorsed Consumer Scotland’s first investigation report.
12. There being no other business, the meeting closed.