Offshore wind - strategic compensation policy: business and regulatory impact assessment

Section 2: Engagement and Information Gathering

Engagement Approach

Our engagement approach to developing the policy to date has been focused on close engagement in the first instance between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and other devolved administrations. This reflects the complex mix of reserved and devolved powers which apply in this policy space, as set out under the “Introduction” above.

We have kept businesses regularly informed of our progress in developing the policy where possible, particularly the offshore wind industry via Scottish Renewables, which acts as the voice for its Scottish renewable energy industry membership. We have also kept other key stakeholders (e.g., eNGOs (environmental Non-Government Organisations)) informed of our progress where possible.

In addition, a series of six, collaborative workshops were held to gather feedback and seek input from across Scottish Government, and key external stakeholders.

The policy will now be released for a six-week public consultation. We will be considering the feedback received during the consultation period and reflecting this in both the final policy and the final BRIA.

Internal Scottish Government Engagement/Engagement with Wider Public Sector

Internal Scottish Government Engagement

The policy has been developed with regular and close engagement between relevant areas of the Scottish Government’s Offshore Wind Directorate and Marine Directorate. This has included regular engagement at officials and senior officials levels between the Offshore Wind Directorate’s Offshore Wind Environmental Reform team and the Marine Directorate’s Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT), and Science Evidence Data and Digital (MD-SEDD) team. From time to time and as required, other Directorates have also been engaged on development of the policy.

By taking this approach, we have sought to ensure that the policy is both achieving its stated policy aim of supporting offshore wind development in Scottish waters and is fit for purpose when integrated into current licensing and consenting processes for offshore wind applications.

UK/Devolved Administrations

The policy has been developed in close consultation with the UK Government and other devolved administrations since the Energy Act 2023 came into force. This has included, but not been limited to, regular engagement between Scottish Government officials with representations of both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

This close engagement reflects the fact that developing a single and consistent offshore wind consenting regime across Scottish inshore and offshore regions requires the alignment and coordination of different SIs: whilst the Scottish Ministers are responsible for developing the SI for the Scottish inshore region (0-12nm), it is for UK Ministers to develop the SI for the Scottish offshore region (beyond 12nm).

Wider Public Sector

Public bodies engaged in a series of workshops relating to the development of the policy. Please see below under ‘Other Stakeholders’.

International

The development of the policy has been focused on engagement between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and other devolved administrations (EU alignment considerations are set out below).

Business/Third Sector Engagement

In addition to engaging the offshore wind industry as part of the public consultation, we plan to undertake targeted stakeholder engagement with the offshore wind industry as part of the development of the policy post-consultation. This engagement will support completion of the final BRIA.

Public Consultation

This draft partial BRIA has been prepared ahead of formal public consultation on the policy, which will be open for a six-week period. The feedback received as part of this consultation will be reflected in the final BRIA.

Other Stakeholders

The policy presented in this consultation has been informed by stakeholder engagement including a series of six Scottish Government workshops held in the summer of 2024. These workshops were attended by representatives from a varied group of stakeholders and gathered views on proposed policy options for development. The primary focus of each workshop was:

1. Monitoring Effectiveness of Compensatory Measures

2. Adaptive Management

3. Securing Measures for the Environment

4. Securing Strategic Measures to Project Level Consents

5. Environmental Objective/Standard

6. Selection System

A follow-up session was also held to share the analysis from the collaborative workshops and to allow for further discussion.