Better Regulation: supporting economic growth and investment

Annex D – Summary of Findings and Actions

Issue: Overall regulatory system

Stakeholder Feedback: Scotland’s regulatory system is stable, robust, and aligned with international best practice; good practice should be further embedded

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• Continue to showcase and build on good regulatory practice
  • Ongoing with the first meeting of the Scottish Regulators Forum held in December 2025

• Established Scottish Regulators Forum, creating space for Regulators and Government to come together, share best-practice, and tackle overarching issues
  • Ongoing with the first meeting of the Scottish Regulators Forum held in December 2025

Issue: Energy Performance Certification (EPC)

Stakeholder Feedback: Longstanding concerns that EPCs were not fit for purpose

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• Extensive stakeholder consultation
  • Completed

• Revised Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations were laid in Parliament in November 2025 and have now been approved
  • Regulations were laid in the Scottish Parliament in November 2025 and have since been approved, coming into force in October 2026

Issue: Road bonds (housing)

Stakeholder Feedback: Identified as a specific regulatory challenge affecting project viability, investment pipelines, and delivery timescales; need to balance protections for local authorities

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• Working extensively with stakeholders to update national bond guidance
  • By Q3 2026
• Considering improvements to reduce regulatory friction while maintaining system integrity and protections for local authorities through testing the feasibility of a new fund
  • By Q3 2026
• Working with stakeholders to improve data collection
  • Improved data collection processes by February 2026

Issue: Complexity, inconsistency, disjointed experience of the regulatory landscape

Stakeholder Feedback: Identified as an issue that creates inconsistency, slows delivery and diverts resource from other priorities

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• Our Public Service Reform strategy details SG’s vision for public services; efficient, good quality and effective services
  • Ongoing, with delivery detailed in the Public Service Reform Strategy
• Established Scottish Regulators Forum to foster greater alignment
  • Completed, with first meeting of the Scottish Regulators Forum held in December 2025
• Continued engagement across administrations to promote and protect interests of Scottish businesses in the regulatory system
  • Ongoing regular engagement with UK Government and devolved administrations

Issue: Cumulative impact and cost of regulation

Stakeholder Feedback: Businesses faced with multiple sets of compliance costs and administrative processes, diverting resources away from growth. Cumulative regulatory burden particularly challenging for SMEs

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• Utilising expertise within independent Regulatory Review Group (RRG) to adequality scrutinise forthcoming regulation with consideration of sequencing and cumulative impact
  • Continue the programme of regular RRG meetings, with ten meetings annually.
• Utilising mechanisms such as impact assessments and specific Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments (BRIAs) to assess the likely costs, benefits and risks of any proposed legislation, regulation or guidance
  • Ongoing use of mechanisms, also supporting an additional Programme for Government 2025-2026 commitment to: subject future Scottish government regulation to scrutiny to ensure that its purpose, content and timing have regard to potential opportunities and impacts on business and investment. This will include supporting improved engagement with business, robust Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments, and good regulatory practice

Issue: Speed, responsiveness, and flexibility of regulatory approaches

Stakeholder Feedback: Businesses want regulatory processes to go faster, minimize risk, be responsive, flexible, and transparent

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• We will work collaboratively to review the Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice to support ambitions to further deliver our Better Regulation Principles
• Publishing an update to the Code of Practice in Q4 2026
• We are proposing to amend the Habitats Regulations for offshore wind, to provide a more flexible and pragmatic approach to environmental compensation for offshore wind, unlocking barriers to development
  • The draft Scottish Statutory Instrument (which would apply in the Scottish inshore region) was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 9 January 2026.
• Regarding energy consenting, in February 2025 we published guidance on the procedure for priority applications for transmission infrastructure under Section 37 of the Electricity Act (1989)
  • Completed

Issue: Digital interfaces

Stakeholder Feedback: Stakeholders expressed challenges with complex, outdated and cumbersome digital interfaces

Scottish Government Actions and delivery time scales:

• Our Digital Strategy for Scotland was published on 18 November 2025, and underlines our commitment to using digital solutions, informed by quality data, as a key driver of Public Service Reform across Scotland
  • The associated Digital Strategy for Scotland: sustainable digital public services delivery plan, sets out actions that will be taken by 2028 and beyond