Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill - deer management: final business and regulatory impact assessment

Introduction

The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill(“the Bill”) is being introduced to support the Scottish Government’s objectives in restoring biodiversity and tackling climate change by putting in place measures that will help to deliver a nature positive vision for Scotland. There are four main strands of work included in the Bill:

• Establishing a framework for statutory targets for improving biodiversity,
• Providing Scottish Ministers with a new delegated power to modify or restate Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) legislation and the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (“the Habitats Regulations”),
• Modernisation of the aims and powers of National Parks and providing Scottish Ministers with a power to set up a fixed penalty notice regime by secondary legislation for contravention of national park byelaws,
• Reforming legislation relating to deer management.

The Bill contributes to delivering the Scottish Government’s priority of tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. It will help to deliver the Scottish Government’s purpose, as set out in the National Performance Framework, through increasing the wellbeing of people in Scotland as a consequence of restoring Scotland’s natural environment.

The Bill also contributes to the following national outcome: ‘value, enjoy, protect and enhance their environment.’

Due to the wide ranging nature of these topics it has been decided that the requirement for a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) should be considered for each topic individually.

This Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) assesses the impacts arising from measures to reform legislation relating to deer management included in part 4 of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill “the Bill”. This document is written subject to the best available information at the time, based on evidence gathered from engagement with relevant stakeholders and relevant public consultations.

A separate Partial BRIA has been undertaken to assess the impacts arising from the measures to modernise the aims and powers of National Parks included in Part 3 of the Bill.

The provisions in part 1 of the Bill relating to statutory targets for restoring biodiversity establish the framework for targets, which include the high-level topics against which specific targets will be set. The framework includes setting, reviewing and reporting on the targets and will place a duty on Scottish Ministers to report the progress being made to meet the targets.

As set out in the financial memorandum for the Bill^[1], creating a duty on Scottish Ministers to set nature restoration targets does not, by itself, have any financial implications on other bodies, individuals and businesses.

Future legislation made under the Bill (secondary legislation) will set out more details of the actual targets and how the Scottish Government will monitor its progress to achieve them. This approach allows for the target topics to be adaptable to changing circumstances and ensures that parliamentary scrutiny is maintained.

Therefore, a BRIA will be considered on any future secondary legislation that is made under the provisions in the Bill that set out further details of statutory nature restoration targets. This will ensure that any potential impacts are considered when the individual targets are being developed.

The actions taken to deliver statutory nature restoration targets set out in secondary legislation, will be undertaken via the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Delivery Plans. These actions may have impacts that require assessment and a BRIA will be conducted on the SBS delivery plans where necessary.

The provisions in part 2 of the Bill provide Scottish Ministers with a new delegated power to modify or restate Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) legislation and the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (“the Habitats Regulations

The Conservation (Natural Habitat, &c.) Regulations 1994 (“the 1994 Habitats Regulations) and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regime are key legal frameworks underpinning environmental protection and assessment processes in Scotland, on land and at sea.

The purpose of the enabling power in the Bill is to allow the Scottish Government to make future amendments to this legislation, if needed, to respond to evolving circumstances, or to address existing issues and inefficiencies. This provides the flexibility to adapt to future requirements, while maintaining or improving overall environmental outcomes.

As set out in the Financial Memorandum accompanying the Bill it is not possible to accurately estimate any potential costs or savings from using this power at this time as the Scottish Government has not committed to any future use of this power. Any future amendments will be given consideration as to whether a BRIA is required when developing any secondary legislation.