New Deal for Business - Regulation and Partnership Subgroup minutes: March 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Co-Chair: Minister for Business, Richard Lochhead MSP
• Co-Chair: Councillor Gail Macgregor, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) Environment and Economy spokesperson
• Susan Love, ACCA Global
• Stacey Dingwall, Federation of Small Businesses 
• David Thomson, Food and Drink Federation Scotland
• Barry White, Chair NSET Delivery Board
• James Fowlie, COSLA
• Fiona Richardson, COSLA
• Elaine Morrison, Business Support Partnership
• Alexandra Connell, Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland
• Stephen Montgomery, Scottish Hospitality Group
• Lisa McCann, Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland
• Ewan MacDonald-Russell, Scottish Retail Consortium
• Fiona Campbell, Association of Scotland's Self Caterers

Apologies

• Prof Russel Griggs, Chair Regulatory Review Group
• Leon Thompson, UK Hospitality
• Charandeep Singh, Scottish Chambers of Commerce
• Marc Crothall, Scottish Tourism Alliance
• Elaine Wilson, Scottish Tourism Alliance
• Mairi Spowage, Fraser of Allander Institute
• Julie Ashworth, Institute of Directors
• Catherine McWilliam,  Institute of Directors
• Clare Reid, Prosper 

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Minister welcomed everyone to the final meeting of the Regulation and Partnership Subgroup and thanked members for their hard work. Councillor Macgregor shared the view from COSLA that officers agreed the processes were working well and particularly recognised the refreshed Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), the Best Practice Policy Cycle and more consultation with regulators by policymakers.

Key Achievements

Officials presented a summary of the key achievements of the combined subgroup. This included the reinstatement of the Regulatory Review Group (RRG) in October 2023, the refreshed BRIA and updated guidance, the Best Practice Policy Cycle, the engagement principles agreed by the New Deal for Business Group (NDBG) and the establishment of a Cabinet Sub-Committee for Investment and Economy that will offer a more strategic view of where potential policies and regulation could create barriers to investment and growth. Officials plan to build on the work started through the subgroup once the New Deal for Business programme comes to its planned end in April 2025, to embed these process tools across Scottish Government and continue to drive the culture change. 

Discussion and Q&A

The business co-leads reflected that the New Deal for Business was about systemic improvement, and that while process improvements may not be exciting, it provided the mechanics to build on. Engagement around the BRIA development was particularly welcome to better reflect the needs of small business. Momentum was now required to implement the change needed to drive action.

Members generally welcomed the work of the subgroup and its robust process, took the opportunity to recognise the work and engagement of officials and encouraged continued engagement accompanied by action. Going forward, it was suggested that the following should be the focus of continued action:

• RRG – greater transparency needed on the pipeline of work that will be reviewed, along with a clear route for businesses to feed into the group. Clarity on outcomes of RRG would also be welcomed. 
• review of regulatory stock – to investigate current relevance and review the evidence supporting those regulations, such as Short Term Lets and Visitor Levy.
• strengthen links between regulation and enforcement – and to recognise the resourcing challenge. 
• support for economy and businesses – New Deal for Business has been about “first aid” and now more strategic and radical thinking is required to create more wins for business, especially smaller businesses. For example, signposting to a single place to improve regulatory transparency for business and consider changing the language to supporting growth rather than regulation. It was noted that use of standards through United Kingdom Accreditation Service and British Standards Institute is something that should be further explored.

Next Steps

Officials confirmed that strategic engagement with business stakeholders will continue, along with work to embed the tools that have been co-created with subgroup members. Officials would be in touch to consider how the expertise of group members could continue to be used going forward.

Close

Co-chairs again thanked members for their continued engagement and welcomed the progress that had been made.