The Scottish Government held its first New Deal for Business Group meeting on 17th May, 2023. It was co-chaired by Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy and Dr Poonam Malik.
The establishment of the group was announced by the First Minister as a mechanism to seek to develop a new model of working between the Scottish business community and Scottish Government. This was in response to widespread criticism voiced by the Chamber and other business organisations on the failure of Government to adequately respond to several policies and regulations which have been introduced despite clearly having a damaging impact on business and chamber members.