Inquiry to probe how city growth deals are improving local economies

A Holyrood committee is to examine the impact of city and regional growth deals to help determine if these are delivering for people in Scotland.

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee are to mount an inquiry examining how effective such deals have been in improving local economies.

There are 12 city region and regional growth deals in place in different areas of Scotland, with these funded by both the Scottish and UK governmments.

The committee aims to discover how funding awarded under these deals has helped improve local issues, whether that be by improving broadband and mobile coverage in some areas, reducing unemployment or supporting key sectors such as the life sciences industry.

Launching a call for evidence, committee convener Claire Baker said: “City region and regional growth deals have the potential to deliver significant transformations in communities across Scotland by attracting investment, creating new jobs and improving economic growth.

“We would like to understand more about how these impacts have been and are being measured, and how far lessons learned from earlier deals are informing newer deals.”

Ms Baker added: “We’re particularly keen to hear from Scottish businesses to gauge experiences of engaging with local city region deals and about what support has been provided to bid for work.

“As a committee, we will examine the progress of the deals so far and identify whether they are delivering what they intended for the people of Scotland.”