UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill: Fairer Scotland Duty assessment not required declaration

Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment not required declaration

Policy title: UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill

Directorate: Culture and External Affairs

Division: Major Events

Team; UEFA EURO 2028 Unit

Policy lead responsible for taking the decision: Rachael McKechnie, Deputy Director, Major Events

Rationale for decision

Background

Scotland will co-host the Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) European Championship 2028, also referred to as ‘EURO 2028’, as part of a joint UK and Ireland Championship.

The UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill (the Bill) aims to help ensure successful delivery of EURO 2028, by meeting UEFA’s commercial rights requirements for Scotland to host matches in Glasgow.

The Bill will strengthen restrictions on street trading, advertising, ticketing and enforcement for EURO 2028. Street trading and advertising restrictions will only be in place over a period of time close to and during EURO 2028. They will only apply in specific areas in Glasgow, called ‘event zones’. Ticketing restrictions will apply throughout Scotland to EURO 2028 match tickets only.

The Bill will make it an offence:

• for any persons, other than UEFA or those authorised by UEFA, to trade outdoors in an event zone at a prohibited time.
• to advertise within an event zone at a prohibited time (although, certain existing advertising will be permitted) or give away products for free if they are not from approved commercial partners of the Championship.
• to re-sell tickets for EURO 2028 for profit in Scotland.

Glasgow City Council issues street trading licenses. These allow license holders to only trade in certain areas of the city.

Police Scotland issue pedlar’s certificates which allow pedlars based in Scotland to trade anywhere in the UK.

Holding such a licence, certificate or any other permit that would normally allow a street trader/pedlar to trade on the street does not exempt them from the street trading offence in the Bill.

Evidence

Public consultation and other engagement

On 2 May 2024 the Scottish Government launched a 12-week public consultation to seek views on the commercial rights protection for EURO 2028. This included:

• A public consultation paper^[1] and Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)^[2] published on the Scottish Government website supported by a Citizen Space survey^[3].
• Targeted engagement during the consultation period with those most likely to be affected and groups representing these interests.

Additionally, four consultation events were held to engage with key stakeholders and the public.

We distributed leaflets to street traders at Hampden Stadium on 7 June 2024, to make them aware of the consultation and listen to their views. At that time, some traders expressed annoyance at potentially being moved from their usual trading sites for EURO 2028, highlighting that they had been trading in the vicinity of Hampden Stadium for a long time. Glasgow City Council also wrote to all street traders potentially impacted by the proposed legislation to invite participation in the public consultation.

We also contacted a wide range of public and third sector organisations to highlight the public consultation and invite participation.

The public consultation closed on 26 July 2024.

A total of 26 responses to the consultation on-line survey were received.

Four respondents to the public consultation on-line survey identified as street traders, advertisers or advertising space owners.

The two in-person engagement events held in Glasgow were attended by a total of 6 people, and the two online engagement events were attended by a total of 12 people.

Broadly, the consultation survey – which was delivered on-line via Citizen Space – set out a series of questions related to street trading, advertising and ticketing. Two of the questions in the online survey covered are directly relevant to considering the Fairer Scotland Duty:

• What impact, if any, did street trading/advertising/ticketing laws in place for EURO 2020 have on you (as a resident, business or visitor)? And what mitigations could be put in place to address these?
• In what ways, if any, do you think the proposed legislation would affect some groups of people differently than others? This might be based on where people live, their socioeconomic status or their protected characteristic.

In terms of impacts, the most common theme from respondents to the public consultation was that the proposed street trading, advertising and ticketing measures for EURO 2028 would have no impact on them.

In terms of exemptions, there was support for charity auctions to be exempt from the ticketing measures.

Eight respondents left comments to the online survey question regarding whether the proposals would affect some groups of people differently than others. None of the respondents highlighted particular issues around socio-economic deprivation. The most common themes emerging were around the delivery of the EURO 2028 event itself (littering, traffic management, impact on vulnerable groups).

Some respondents to the consultation highlighted the need for early guidance to help street traders and businesses comply with the proposed legislation.

Concerns around the impact of the proposed legislation on their income from the resale of EURO 2028 tickets was raised by one online survey respondent.

Our assessment is that further targeted engagement around the proposed legislation is not required as activity undertaken to date provides sufficient evidence for the purposes of progressing the legislation and the associated impact assessments.

The Scottish Government published the analysis of responses to the public consultation^[4] and also the Scottish Government’s response^[5] to the analysis on 11 October 2024.

125 street traders were licensed to trade in areas potentially affected by the Bill in May 2024. These numbers could change as new applications for licenses are received by Glasgow City Council – and others expire – in the period up to EURO 2028.

Other available data

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)

Data analysis comparing street traders’ home addresses by SIMD decile revealed that 42% reside in the most deprived decile (decile 1). In contrast, only 13% of all Glasgow City postcodes are in decile 1. This suggests that street traders might be more likely to live in deprived areas than the general population. However, the small sample size means these findings are only indicative, not definitive. Additionally, living in an area of multiple deprivation does not necessarily imply that an individual is experiencing poverty themselves.

Literacy

The Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies 2009^[6] highlights that:

• around one quarter of the Scottish population (26.7%) may face occasional challenges and constrained opportunities due to their literacies difficulties, but will generally cope with their day-to-day lives;
• within this quarter of the population, 3.6% (one person in 28) face serious challenges in their literacies practices;
• one of the key factors linked to lower literacies capabilities is poverty, with adults living in the 15% of the most deprived areas in Scotland being more likely to have literacies capabilities at the lower end of the scale; and
• there is strong correlation between literacies capabilities and income. 14% of people with an income of less than £9,500 scored at the lowest level of skills.

This data indicates that clear, inclusive guidance on the Bill’s restrictions could be particularly helpful for some groups. This includes those with literacies challenges. Those living in the most deprived areas are more likely to have lower literacies capabilities.

Assessment

There is no evidence to suggest that the Bill includes any measures that would impact on the inequalities experienced by socio-economically disadvantaged or vulnerable groups.

There could be financial impacts on street traders/pedlars who will not be able to trade in their usual site when the restrictions set out in the Bill are in place. The indicative evidence suggests that a higher concentration of street traders may live in more deprived areas of Glasgow compared to the general population. To mitigate this, Glasgow City Council will offer street traders alternative sites to trade during these times.

A pedlar’s licence allows an individual to trade anywhere in the UK providing further flexibility for pedlar’s to adapt to the restrictions by trading elsewhere.

The Bill will only be in place over a relatively short period of time during EURO 2028 matches in Scotland which reduces any financial impacts on any businesses affected.

Glasgow City Council will also provide written guidance in advance of EURO 2028 to help street traders/pedlars and other businesses comply with the Bill. This will be presented in accessible formats including an easy read version for people with literacy difficulties.

There is no evidence to suggest any Fairer Scotland Duty related impacts of the Bill on advertisers or advertising space owners.

There is also potential for the exemption of charity auctions from the ticketing offence to have a positive impact on the charities participating – including those supporting disadvantaged groups – by enhancing their fundraising and profile.

Our assessment is that a Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment is not required for the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill. This is because ‘the duty’ pertains to strategic decisions, and regulations for a brief period in a small geographic area are unlikely to be strategic enough to introduce significant ongoing changes. We will continue to review aspects related to a Fairer Scotland as we move through the parliamentary process and will update this assessment if needed.

I confirm that the decision to not carry out a Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment has been authorised by:

Name and job title of Deputy Director (or equivalent): Rachael McKechnie – Deputy Director, Major Events.

Date authorisation given: 21 February 2025