Regulatory Review Group Annual Report 2024-2025

Our Work This Year

The RRG has scrutinised a wide range of policy and legislative proposals over the past year. Our focus has been on areas with significant regulatory or economic impact, ensuring that proposals are developed with robust evidence, early engagement with stakeholders, and consideration of the cumulative burden on business.

A number of the topics considered this year were returning items that had already been to the RRG at an earlier stage of development. These included the Consumer Duty, the Tobacco and Vaping Framework, and the proposed restrictions on the promotion of food high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). We view this as a positive and welcome development for two reasons. First, it shows that some proposals are now reaching the RRG early enough in their development to allow for multiple rounds of scrutiny, meaning that policy officials have time to test and refine their approaches before legislation or regulations are finalised. Second, it reflects an important culture change within government. The RRG is increasingly seen not as a hurdle, but as a constructive and valuable part of the policy development journey. Officials are voluntarily re-engaging with the RRG to seek further feedback, demonstrating that our input is both trusted and acted upon.

In addition to scrutinising specific policy proposals, the RRG has also raised wider, systemic issues affecting the delivery of regulation in Scotland. This year, we highlighted two particularly important challenges:

• The cumulative impact of regulation, emphasising to Ministers that the combined effect of multiple new regulations can create disproportionate pressures on business which unintentionally undermine broader policy ambition, especially in challenging economic conditions.
• Local authority enforcement capacity, formally writing to the Deputy First Minister to outline concerns about the resourcing of Environmental Health Officers and Trading Standards. We stressed that effective enforcement is a cornerstone of good regulation, benefiting consumers through safety and fair trading, and supporting businesses by ensuring a level playing field.

Through examples such as the well-resourced enforcement of the indoor smoking ban and the COVID-19 response, the RRG demonstrated how appropriate investment in enforcement yields positive outcomes. Conversely, where new regulations have been introduced without additional resources, enforcement has been minimal or absent. We welcomed the inclusion of enforcement considerations in Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments (BRIAs), but noted that this will not, on its own, solve current capacity pressures. Our advice to Ministers called for a strategic approach to enforcement, ensuring new duties are only introduced where resources are available, exploring alternatives such as the use of standards, and considering innovative compliance models to reduce pressure on local authority teams, all In support of improved outcomes.