Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) - Toolkit

BRIA Title

A standard title format is recommended to promote consistency and make documents easier to find, ensuring that it is clear what is the BRIA covers:

"Policy/ Regulation Title – [Partial] Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment – Date"

Introduction

Officials should provide a brief introduction to the BRIA. This can cover the policy area and the evidenced issue under consideration, what actions have already been taken and how officials have approached the completion of the impact assessment. This section should note whether the document is a Partial or Final BRIA (and if Partial, when the final version will be published).

Executive Summary

Provide a short (maximum 2 page) summary of the content of the BRIA, based on the headings set out below and provided in the template. Providing an executive summary is helpful in engaging Ministers and stakeholders, in particular, where the rest of the BRIA contains significant detail.

Most businesses operating or trading in Scotland are classified as small or micro enterprises, and therefore may not have time to review everything published. An effective summary will help them engage with the policy proposals, and thus provide feedback that allows officials to better deliver outcomes.

The content of the Executive Summary should reflect the content of the document. Content will vary depending on whether the document is a full or partial BRIA.

A partial BRIA can set out a summary of the expected outcomes and impacts (positive and negative) that have been identified - this should include the intended outcomes as well as any additional/ unintended costs or benefits for businesses. Any key mitigating actions that are under consideration can also be highlighted. The summary should set out how the Partial BRIA will be further developed to deliver the final version alongside any further published announcements.

The full BRIA should cover all the options that have been assessed but may highlight specific option that are being recommended and taken forwards. It should detail the engagement that has been done across different stakeholder groups, next steps and implementation plans.

Issue and why it needs to be addressed

Intended outcomes

Options

Sectors affected

Engagement completed, ongoing and planned

Anticipated impacts (intended and unintended, positive and negative) and mitigating actions

Enforcement/ Compliance

Recommendations/ Implementation Plans

Evaluation and Monitoring of implementation/ Review of BRIA