New forum for business leaders and ministers to hold first meeting

A new forum which will bring together the Scottish Government and business leaders will hold its first meeting this week.

The New Deal for Scottish Business group, promised by Humza Yousaf after he became First Minister, will meet on Wednesday.

The group is seen as an attempt to reset relations between the business community and ministers.

It comes after Mr Yousaf paused the introduction of the deposit return scheme, a key concern for some businesses, until next year

Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray will co-chair the meeting along with Dr Poonam Malik, head of investments at the University of Strathclyde, The Herald newspaper reports.

The minister told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme that business would be involved “at the earliest stage of policy development” when it came to tackling new regulations.

Mr Gray said: “We’re responding to the concerns that have been raised by the business community.

“We’ve obviously had to pause the rollout of the deposit return scheme.

“We’re looking to ensure that we get the alcohol advertising scheme working well.

“And I think what we’re needing to do is make sure that we’re responding to the concerns of business in terms of elements of regulation that they would want to see done differently.

“So we’re going to be agreeing ways to involve business at the earliest stages of policy development to ensure if it’s effective and proportionate.”