Scottish Regulators Forum minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Accountant in Bankruptcy
• Care Inspectorate
• Food Standards Scotland
• Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Historic Environment Scotland
• NatureScot
• Scottish Charity Regulator
• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Scottish Government
• Scottish Housing Regulator
• SEPA
• Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland
• Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland

Apologies

• COSLA

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

Frances Pacitti welcomed members to the first meeting of the renewed Scottish Regulators Forum, which aims to revitalise collaboration among Scottish regulatory bodies, improve systems and regulatory practices, promote sharing best practices and support economic growth while maintaining regulatory protections.

The work of the Business and Better Regulation Directorate has been primarily internally focussed and aimed at improving systems across Government. However, we recognise that working towards greater system coherence requires the need to engage regulators directly for broader support and input in a complex regulatory landscape.

Review of the Terms of Reference (ToR)

Prior to the meeting, the secretariat shared the draft Terms of Reference for comment. Key points arising from the discussion included the following:

• suggested additional forum members:
  • Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR)
  • Scottish Government Rural Payments Inspectorate
  • Animal Plant Health Agency
  • Health and Safety Executive
  • Environmental Standards Scotland
  • Police Scotland
• ensure that the language used in section 2 of the ToR is inclusive of all regulatory functions
• agreed that secretariat of the Forum would remain within the Scottish Government to ensure consistency and continuity
• members agreed to review and provide additional comments on the ToR in writing

Better Regulation agenda

Two key drivers for the work of Directorate for Business and Better Regulation have come from this year’s Programme for Government (and overseen by the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Investment and Economy).

The first focuses on future regulation, that is those that are in development and links to the work of the Regulatory Review Group (RRG) and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments.

The latter relates to reviewing existing regulations to identify those which act as a barrier to investment in key priority areas. An implementation report will be published early in the new year.

Our approach to better regulation is about getting it right – delivering intended outcomes while minimizing unnecessary burdens. Producing better regulation by regulating better.

We are engaging with UK and international counterparts to learn from other regulatory reform initiatives.

Regulators Forum relaunch and work programme

The Forum is relaunching in the context of ongoing ministerial and stakeholder concern over regulatory complexity and cumulative regulatory burden.

The Forum’s role will complement the work of the RRG by focussing on broader issues, best practice, and skills pipeline concerns.

Members suggested the following topics for inclusion in the Forum’s workplan:

• cost recovery and charging points raised included:
• resulting changes to relationship between businesses and regulators
• annual rate changes or fee increases
• ministerial discount to food businesses.
• highlight work going on across the UK in the regulatory space
• highlight good practice and ‘case study’ examples
• cumulative business impacts e.g. Non Domestic Rates, National Insurance, cost of living

Scottish Regulators’ Code of Practice (CoP) review

Ministerial agreement has been received to review and update the Scottish Regulators' CoP. The process will include benchmarking against other jurisdictions and engagement with stakeholders. A first draft will be developed and shared with Forum members ahead of the next meeting. We aim for the updated CoP to be published late in 2026.

Members welcomed the opportunity to participate in a review and refresh of the CoP, highlighting the following priority areas:

• clearer, shorter principles; better linkage to economic growth; early engagement with industry after new legislation and learning from Covid-19
• the language and focus must be inclusive of the diverse regulatory sectors to which it applies
• consider keeping a single high-level code but introduce sector specific guidance for areas where the terminology doesn’t fit
• any case studies should be removed from the code and, if necessary, included as Annexes or separate documents
• consider engaging with Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to align enforcement principles in the CoP with expectations on case submission

Next steps/any other business

• consensus to proceed with the forum and commitment to maintaining constructive, purposeful meetings
• next meeting is proposed for mid-February