Permitted development rights to support the provision of new homes: consultation

5 Assessments

Strategic Environmental Assessment

In Scotland, public bodies are required to assess, consult on, and monitor the likely impacts their plans, programmes and strategies will have on the environment. This process is known as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and is required under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.

SEA helps to better protect the environment, aims to ensure that any development is sustainable, and increases opportunities for public participation in decision-making. It ensures that expert views are sought at various points in the preparation process from the public and the consultation authorities, who are:

• NatureScot
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
• Historic Environment Scotland (HES)

A SEA Environmental Report will be published during the consultation process. A link to the report will be added to the Citizen Space consultation page.

Question 27: What are your views on the accuracy and scope of the environmental baseline set out in the environmental report?

Question 28: What are your views on the predicted environmental effects of the proposals as set out in the environmental report? Please give details of any additional relevant sources.

Question 29: What are your views on the assessment of alternatives as set out in the environmental report?

Question 30: What are your views on the proposals for mitigation, enhancement and monitoring of the environmental effects set out in the environmental report?

Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment

When developing proposed legislation or policy, the Scottish Government must consider whether the proposals are likely to increase or reduce the costs and burdens placed on businesses, the public sector, voluntary and community organisations. A Partial (i.e. draft) Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) has been prepared and is available at Annex A. This considers the potential costs and benefits of the options in this consultation on businesses, and economic impacts more generally. We would welcome any comments on this draft assessment. Feedback will inform further policy development and iteration of the BRIA, a final version of which will be published alongside any future SSI.

Question 31: Please provide any comments on the partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) and information on the potential business or regulatory impacts of any of the options identified in this consultation.

Other assessments

A number of other assessments or screening exercises are also being progressed as summarised below. Like the BRIA, these are ‘live’ documents which will be updated in the light of responses to this consultation and will inform further policy development. Final impact assessments or screening declarations would be published when and if the Scottish Ministers lay a SSI in relation to PDR changes. To inform these assessments, we would welcome views on any potential impacts of the options in this consultation on: groups with protected characteristics, the rights and wellbeing of children and young people, island communities and socio-economic disadvantage. If you would like to discuss these assessments, please contact us at HousingEmergencyPDR@gov.scot.

Equalities Impact Assessment

The public sector equality duty (the ‘general duty’) requires the Scottish Government to, in making strategic decisions within policy, pay due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, victimisation, harassment or other unlawful conduct that is prohibited under the Equality Act 2010;
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic.

These three requirements apply across the 'protected characteristics' of:

• age;
• disability;
• gender reassignment;
• marriage and civil partnership;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• race;
• religion and belief;
• sex and sexual orientation.

In 2012 Scottish Ministers made regulations that placed specific duties on Scottish public bodies to help them meet the general duty. These include a requirement to assess the impact of new policies or practices.

Question 32: Are you aware of any examples of how any of the options identified in this consultation may affect, either positively or negatively, those with protected characteristics? If yes, please provide further detail.

Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment

Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) is a process through which the anticipated impact of any legislative provision (including SSI), and decisions of a strategic nature relating to the human rights and wellbeing of children can be identified, researched, analysed and recorded.

CRWIA uses two frameworks in its assessment:

• the articles (requirements) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and
• the eight child wellbeing indicators

The articles and child wellbeing indicators apply to all children and young people up to the age of 18, including non-citizen and undocumented children and young people.

Question 33: Please provide any comments or information on the potential impacts on children’s rights and wellbeing of any of the options identified in this consultation.

Island Communities Impact Assessment

An Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) tests any new policy, strategy or service which is likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from the effect on other communities. This became a legal duty in December 2020 under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.

Question 34: Do you have any information or comments on the potential impacts on island communities of any of the options identified in this consultation? If yes, please provide further detail.

Fairer Scotland Duty

The Fairer Scotland Duty is set out in legislation in Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010 and came into force in Scotland from April 2018. It requires Scottish Ministers and named public bodies to actively consider what more can be done to reduce the 'inequalities of outcome' caused by socio-economic disadvantage when making strategic decisions.

The changes to PDR covered in this consultation are not considered to constitute a strategic decision for the purposes of the Fairer Scotland Duty. The measures would alter the process by which specified forms of development are consented, in order to support wider Scottish Government policy objectives. The types of development for which new or extended PDR are being considered are relatively small-scale and/or involve changes to the use of existing buildings.

Question 35: Are you aware of any examples of potential impacts, either positive or negative, that the options identified in this consultation may have on groups or areas at socio-economic disadvantage (such as income, low wealth or area deprivation)? If yes, please provide further detail.

Question 36: Do you agree that a Fairer Scotland Duty assessment is not required in relation to the options set out in this consultation?