Senior Management Team Meeting - Minutes - 27 November 2025
Attendees
Chair
- Alison Irvine (AI), Chief Executive - Chair
FCS
- Catherine Jess-Gibson (CJG) - Director
- David Swanson (DS)
- Andy Pope (AP)
- Steven Wyllie (SW)
- Gillian Steele (GS)
- Mary Docherty (MD) - Director
Ferries
- Chris Wilcock (CW) - Director
ECS
- Ed Thomson (ET)
- Stuart Jackson (SJ)
- David Keltie Armstrong (DKA)
· Major Projects
- Lawrence Shackman – (LS) Director
Rail
- Graeme Cook (GC) – Director
Roads
- Michelle Van der stighelen (MV)
BAAT
- Bettina Sizeland (BS) – Director
TSA
- Fiona Brown (FB) – Director
- Anne Martin (AM) Item 5&6
Digital Directorate
- Geoff Huggins – Chief Digital Officer
NXD
- Graeme Dickson (GD)
CEO Office
- Pam Yorke
- Mark Dunlop
Apologies
- Hugh Gillies, Director of Roads
- Morna Cannon, Director of ECS
Welcome and updates
AI welcomed everyone and advised that Andy Kerr, the new Director General Net Zero (DG), will start next Monday.
Finance
CJG provided a brief outline on portfolio allocations discussed at DG SMT. DG Exchequer deep dives will focus on savings.
GS thanked everyone for their work on the in-year update and provided an overview of Transport Scotland’s financial position, outlining:
- Recommended Spring Budget Revision.
- Spend options to manage resource pressures and capital underspend.
Risk Register Review
AP presented the revised Risk Management Framework, updated following minor SG policy changes. The Audit and Risk Committee had reviewed it with no notable comments. The revised version will be circulated for SMT approval.
Risk Register Review:
- AI asked AP to recirculate Risk Survey and SMT to complete.
- Directors were asked to review their representative on the Risk Management Group (RMG) to ensure they are well placed to contribute to discussions, lead risk management reporting in their directorate and represent Director’s views by 11 December.
- Directors to review entries in the Corporate and Directorate Risk Registers by 11 December and update monthly.
- SMT were asked to review Deep Dive Risks (April–December) by 18 December; RMG members to provide updates.
- SMT requested a deep dive session on risk appetite and benchmarking against other organisations (e.g., Scottish Water).
Corporate Dashboard
SW reported significant improvement in October correspondence performance. AI asked for thanks to be passed to teams.
SW highlighted the need for consistency in handling FOIs/EIRs; liaison ongoing with FOI Unit and Gateway Review Team and advice is being provided to TS teams.
There were no concerns raised regarding business travel.
Copilot
SJ provided a short summary of some key learning from his experience of using the fully licensed copilot on the SG pilot and his thoughts on where some of this could be applied across TS.
AI thanked SJ for his informative and thought-provoking presentation. DS will bring together a group of interested staff to develop options for consideration of how to make the best use of AI tools across the organisation, drawing on this work.
Digital Landscape
GH was invited to attend to discuss the current SG digital landscape and opportunities for TS to develop a digital strategy to align with SG and contribute to the development of SG outputs. SMT thanked GH and expressed enthusiasm about potential benefits for TS and other public bodies.
Any Other Business
BS asked if OD could be tabled at the next SMT and this was agreed to be scheduled for the SMT meeting on December 3rd.
Summary of Actions
- AP to recirculate Risk Register survey; SMT to complete.
- Directors to review RMG representatives by 11 December.
- Directors to review and update Corporate and Directorate Risk Registers by 11 December (monthly updates thereafter).
- SMT to review Deep Dive Risks (April–December) by 18 December; RMG members to provide updates.
- Corporate Governance team to organise a deep dive session on risk appetite and benchmarking.
- PY to ensure OD is included on the next SMT agenda.