To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Centre for Cities’ recent report, which recommended having a directly elected metro mayor for the greater Glasgow region. (S6O-05245)

Growing the economy is a top Government priority and we agree with the Centre for Cities that further empowering regions is key to delivering that. As the First Minister announced last week, we will introduce legislation in the next parliamentary session to enable regional partnerships to establish legal status and unlock new powers. Our approach will be dynamic and we will work with regions to design structures that suit them.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Indeed, new research from the University of Glasgow centre for public policy recommends moving away from the assumption that appointing mayors is the best approach.

At last Friday’s state of the city economy conference in Glasgow, the First Minister promised that the Government would introduce enabling legislation in the next parliamentary session to allow regional partnerships to seek legal status, unlock new powers and design delivery models tailored to local priorities. With further details yet to be provided, that seems to be one of the biggest changes to government in Scotland since the creation of the Parliament, finally filling the strategic gap that has been present in Scotland since the abolition of the regional councils in 1996.

Does the Scottish Government plan to facilitate a greater level of democratic mandate for this new city-region tier of governance, or are we going to end up with a feeble version of England’s combined authority system, with some executive powers but none of the democratic accountability?

I welcome Paul Sweeney’s recognition of the steps that the First Minister has laid out. In my first answer, I said that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and there does need to be a more dynamic approach. It is interesting to see what lessons we can learn from some of the greater authorities—Manchester is often referred to in that respect—but it is quite clear that their approach to development and planning is dynamic. That is the approach that we want to adopt, too, instead of being drawn to taking a single democratic or constitutional approach to those areas.

We will therefore lay out more steps, but the approach needs to be flexible; after all, the approach taken in Glasgow might not be the same as that taken in, say, Aberdeen. We are keen to see that dynamic approach adopted.

My question is in a similar vein to Paul Sweeney’s. In implementing the Scottish Government’s legislative plans, might the Deputy First Minister consider enabling the city region to look at the establishment of a directly elected council or assembly to ensure better democratic oversight and governance for the region?

We will work with regional partnerships to establish governance structures that work for them. I know that this is outside Jamie Hepburn’s area, but I would point out as an illustration that some regional partnerships are already aligned with a single local authority, which makes it easier to match the governance structure with the regional partnership. That might look different in areas such as Glasgow, and, as I said in my original answer, it does not necessarily mean appointing mayors.

The views of local government will inform any future changes to local government structure or governance arrangements, in line with our commitment to respecting the democratic mandate of local government as part of the Verity house agreement.