Developing Scotland's circular economy: consultation on proposals for legislation

5. Assessing impact of bill proposals

We are committed to assessing the impact of our proposals. This consultation marks the start of processes to assess the equalities, business and regulatory, and environmental impact of our plans in compliance with legislative requirements and, importantly, to inform the policy development process.

A: Equality

In developing proposals for the circular economy bill, the public sector equality duty requires the Scottish Government to pay due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, victimisation, harassment or other unlawful conduct that is prohibited under the Equality Act 2010;
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic.

These three requirements apply across the ‘protected characteristics’ of:

• age;
• disability;
• gender reassignment;
• marriage and civil partnership;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• race;
• religion and belief;
• sex and sexual orientation.

We have developed a partial Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) to accompany this consultation.^[36] Many of the proposed bill provisions are enabling powers, which in themselves cannot impact on an individual, or on the protected characteristics listed above. However, the aim of the Scottish Government is to use this consultation process as a means to explore fully any potential equality impacts. Comments received will be used to complete a full Equality Impact Assessment and to determine if any further work in this area is needed.

Any secondary legislation that flows from the powers within the circular economy bill will be subject to a further consultation and equality impact assessment.

Question

16. Taking into account the accompanying EQIA, are there any additional likely impacts the proposals contained in this consultation may have on particular
groups of people, with reference to the ‘protected characteristics’ listed above? Please specify.

B: Business and regulation

In developing proposals for legislation, a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) analyses whether a policy is likely to increase or reduce the costs and burdens placed on businesses, the public sector, voluntary and community organisations.

A partial BRIA accompanies this consultation.^[37] Many of the proposed bill provisions are enabling powers and are therefore unlikely to impact directly on the costs and burdens placed on businesses, the public sector, voluntary and community organisations. Your comments will help inform a full BRIA, which will be published at the same time as a circular economy bill is introduced.

Any secondary legislation that flows from the bill’s primary powers will be subject to a full BRIA and consultation at that time.

Question

17. Taking into account the accompanying BRIA, do you think that the proposals contained in this consultation are likely to increase or reduce the costs and burdens placed on any business or sector? Please specify.

C: Environment

The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 ensures that those public plans that are likely to have a significant impact on the environment are assessed and measures to prevent or reduce adverse effects are sought. We intend to explore whether significant environmental effects are likely to arise through the Strategic Environmental Assessment process.

Question

18. Do you think that the proposals contained in this consultation are likely to have an impact on the environment? If so, which ones and how? Please specify.