Regulatory Review Group Minutes: October 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Professor Russel Griggs OBE, Regulatory Review Group Chair 
• Susan Love, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 
• Ewan MacDonald-Russell, Scottish Retail Consortium 
• James Fowlie, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
• Fiona Richardson, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities 
• Robbie McGregor, British Standards Institute 
• Richard Collin, UKAS
• Brendan McGinty, Competition and Markets Authority

Apologies

• Douglas White, Consumer Scotland 
• Craig Brown, Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland 
• David MacKenzie, Trading Standards 

Items and actions

Welcome, Introductions and Approval of Minutes 

Professor Russel Griggs OBE welcomed and thanked attendees for participating in this virtual meeting of the Regulatory Review Group (RRG). Minutes from the previous meeting (23 September 2025) were agreed. 

Update on sequencing meeting 

Russel updated members on the outcomes arising from the meeting on sequencing of upcoming government activity with an impact on the housing sector. Russel met with the Cabinet Secretary for Housing on 21 October to discuss the sequencing work arising from the RRG’s meeting with officials. The Cabinet Secretary has instructed officials within each relevant policy team to produce a ‘doing chart’ of the work they need to do as they work towards policy implementation. These will then be looked at collectively to map out the process and timescales across the policy teams. 

Members agreed that this had been a very positive process, and welcomed the more co-ordinated approach across the Scottish Government (SG). It was felt that there was the potential to provide greater clarity to the public and key implementation stakeholders (e.g. local authorities) through this focus on sequencing. The group highlighted that resource will need to be in place for local authorities and other bodies to effectively implement the policies in development.

Housing (Scotland) Bill 

SG officials presented to members with an update on the Housing Bill (Scotland). Members were advised that the Bill has now been passed by Parliament and that work is now on the implementation of the Bill. Dialogue is ongoing with social and private landlords around Awaab’s law, which will place duties on landlords to repair damp and mould issues within a set timescale. Work is also taking place to define exemptions from rent control measures, with this being prioritised due to the potential impact on investment.

Members generally felt that this area of policy contains a degree of uncertainty. In the discussion that followed, a number of points were raised:

• sequencing the activity arising from the bill was raised as a key concern, to ensure that the impacts are looked at collectively, and that communication is ordered in a manner that informs stakeholders and the public. Officials will provide the advice they have received so far on the sequencing of Housing Bill implementation activity to the RRG
• great care is required to avoid the risk of unintended consequences; for example, the risk that private landlords shift to the short-term lets sector to avoid being subject to rent controls.
• the risk to private investment in housing is great if unintended consequences arise through the implementation of rent controls, and the SG should be able to take stock and reverse course if negative impacts become apparent. Officials agreed to formulate policy that sets out the conditions in which SG would accept a Local Authority request to implement rent controls.
• the landlord register requires improvement to provide a greater range of data than at present, for example to allow local authorities to see how many properties an individual landlord rents out across the whole of Scotland. This would assist Local Authorities in gathering data on the private rental sector when assessing the need for rent controls.
• thought should be given on exemptions from rent controls, and whether more exemptions should be considered than are currently planned.
• the enforcement of Awaab’s law requires consideration, particularly in cases where damp and mould issues have been caused by faulty installation of insulation, as these raise questions over who should pay to rectify these issues.

It was agreed that the group will write to the policy leads for the Housing Bill to provide advice.

Financial Transparency & Profit Limitation in Children’s Residential Care

SG officials welcomed the opportunity to meet with the RRG, and presented to members on the overview of, and reasoning for, Profit Limitation in Children’s Residential Care. The policy team explained that this work aims to fulfil a key aim of The Promise, and the associated review of children in care. As part of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill, provisions will be introduced to collect data on levels of profits and costs within the children’s residential care sector, alongside provisions to limit profit if excessive levels of profit are evident. Officials have sought advice from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) when developing these measures.

A broad discussion followed in which the following points were raised:

• members were unclear about the need for potentially expensive measures to record profit levels as opposed to the state providing services directly, with a risk that these measures cost more money than they save.
• it was felt that a strict definition of profit will need to be formulated, as there is no common understanding of profit across businesses.
• there is a risk of supply being driven out of an already supply constrained sector due to price capping. Care will be required to avoid this from happening.
• members asked why the information held on Scotland Excel was unable to be used to calculate costs and profits within the sector. Officials answered that while Scotland Excel holds a degree of information, it doesn’t record additional costs and is not used by some providers - so does not give a complete assessment.
• capping excessive profit through contractual means to stipulate financial transparency may be a more cost effective and simple approach to solving this issue. Members would be keen for this avenue to be explored by officials.
• officials should continue to monitor developments in England and Wales in this policy area, as governments are taking different approaches to profit limitation in the sector.

Brendan McGinty offered further engagement with the CMA on this policy topic, which the policy team were happy to accept. The RRG will write to the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise.

Next Steps/ AOB 

It was agreed that officials will work in the coming weeks to schedule meetings of the RRG for 2026, with a view to finding dates that will maximise attendance. Alongside this, officials will continue to ensure that teams working on policies of interest have their attendance arranged in advance.

The next meeting of the group will be held in-person in Atlantic Quay, Glasgow on 27 November.