Scottish Marine Recovery Fund: Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment

Section 2: Engagement and information gathering

Engagement approach

This partial BRIA has been prepared as part of preparation for public consultation on a Scottish MRF which will be open to any person or business or industry who would like to respond.

Our engagement approach in relation to a Scottish MRF to date has focused on close engagement with the UK Government. This is because the regulation-making power to establish MRFs resides with the UK Secretary of State of the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) who must also grant the Scottish Government the requisite functions to operate a Scottish MRF.

The consultation will be open for a six-week period. We will be considering the feedback received during the consultation period and reflecting this in both the final design for the Scottish MRF, and in discussion with the UK Government on development of the relevant UK legislation.

Internal SG engagement and engagement with the wider public sector

Work on the potential establishment of a Scottish MRF is being led by officials in the Scottish Government Offshore Wind Directorate’s MRF team. Officials have engaged widely with relevant teams across the Scottish Government including:

• Other teams in the Offshore Wind Directorate, such as the Strategic Compensation team and ScotMER who are progressing work on developing Scotland’s portfolio of strategic compensatory measures.
• Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT), who are responsible for the consenting of offshore wind projects, to ensure that the MRF process aligns with existing licensing and consenting processes for offshore wind and to discuss possible impacts.
• Finance and Scottish Exchequer officials to discuss the funding strategy and longer-term financial management of the Scottish MRF.

Internal SG engagement will continue during and after consultation, to ensure development of a Scottish MRF continues to be fit for purpose and compliant with relevant legal obligations.

UK Government and other Devolved Administrations

Officials are frequently engaging with UK Government, namely DEFRA and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), who are delivering the legal and policy framework for the UK Government’s MRF, as well as delegation of the requisite function to operate a Scottish MRF. These discussions have focused on the legal powers and delegated functions for the operation of the Scottish MRF, and on the future working relationship of the two MRFs. We will continue to engage as the UK Government prepares the legislation which will enable the establishment of the Scottish MRF.

Wider Public Sector

Engagement on policy intent and initial high-level proposals has been undertaken with other public sector bodies - including Crown Estate Scotland and NatureScot. Further engagement is expected as more details on the operation of the Scottish MRF are developed.

International

The development of the Scottish MRF has been focused on engagement between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and other devolved administrations.

Business and Third Sector engagement

In addition to engaging the offshore wind industry as part of the public consultation, we plan to undertake targeted stakeholder engagement with the offshore wind industry as part of the development of the Scottish MRF policy post-consultation. This engagement will support completion of the final BRIA.

Public consultation

This draft partial BRIA has been prepared ahead of formal public consultation on the Scottish MRF, which will be open for a six-week period. The feedback received as part of this consultation will be reflected in the final BRIA.

Other stakeholders

Not applicable.