Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: business and regulatory impact assessment

6. Scottish Firms Impact Test

As set out the Scottish Government has engaged extensively with a broad range of business stakeholders, representatives and trade associations, in addition to holding multiple public consultations. On the evidence considered the Scottish Government does not expect this policy to have a differential negative effect on Scottish firms in scope of the Regulations, particularly given the highly integrated UK retail market and that the regulations align with equivalent policy in England and Wales. Any changes implemented will likely impact the entire UK, not just Scotland, meaning that Scottish firms will be affected within the broader UK context in line with other UK businesses.

In 2024,^[51] Scottish retailers represented approximately 8% of the total retailers across the UK likely to be within scope. Scottish retailers who are likely to be in scope account for roughly 39% of all retail trade business in Scotland, compared to 32% of retailers across the UK that are likely to be within scope. Similarly, Scottish Food and Beverage production businesses that are likely to be affected account for roughly 36% of all food and beverage manufacture businesses in Scotland. This is slightly lower than the share of food and beverage manufacturers that likely to be affected at the UK level (41%).

Among affected food and beverage manufacturers in Scotland, the majority (92%) are micro or small businesses with between 0-49 employees, which is similar to the UK as a whole. Affected retail locations with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from the policy, and account for 96% of all retail local units within scope, aligning with UK wide data which also finds that 96% of local units within scope have fewer than 50 employees. Among larger firms, the most impacted retailers in both Scotland and the UK are those in non-specialised stores, mainly selling food, beverages or tobacco. For manufacturers, the focus is on bread, fresh pastry goods and cakes, with around 20 medium to large manufacturers in Scotland. This pattern is consistent across the UK.

There is no clear evidence suggesting that Scotland has a higher percentage of food producers predominantly focused on HFSS products compared to the rest of the UK. Retail effects on Scottish businesses may be limited by the fact that a large share of Scottish retailers are small or micro businesses, many of which are exempt from the policy due to their size.