Regulatory Review Group minutes: September 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Professor Russel Griggs OBE, Chairman 
• Ewan MacDonald-Russell, Scottish Retail Consortium
• Fiona Richardson, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities 
• David Eiser, Consumer Scotland (Substitute)
• Craig Brown, Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland (Substitute)
• Wendy McCutcheon, Scottish Government
• Catriona MacKean, Scottish Government
• Craig Robertson, Scottish Government 
• Ross Stephen, Scottish Government (Secretariat) 
• Andrew Forrest, Scottish Government (Secretariat) 
• Shivani Kirpal, Scottish Government (Secretariat) 

Apologies

• David MacKenzie, Trading Standards 
• Susan Love, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 
• Douglas White, Consumer Scotland
• Brian Lawrie, Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland
• James Fowlie, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities

Items and actions

Welcome, Introductions and Approval of Minutes

Professor Russel Griggs OBE welcomed and thanked attendees for participating in this virtual policy spotlight Regulatory Review Group (RRG) meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting (27 August) were agreed. 

Correspondence

The response letter from Mr McKee, Minister for Public Finance, on Consumer Duty advice was considered by the RRG. Members suggested further engagement with Mr McKee on the issues raised by the RRG. 

Secretariat to follow-up with the Chair on next steps in regard to further engagement with Mr McKee.

Reflections on Programme for Government and Review of the Workplan

This year’s Programme for Government (PfG) was shorter and more focused on the First Minister’s four priorities rather than being split by portfolio. Members reflected that businesses welcomed the engagement with the Scottish Government ahead of the PfG being published. To account for the PfG’s focus on delivery, the RRG’s workplan has been slightly modified for the remainder of the calendar year. The revised work plan also includes the return of previously discussed policy topics such as Heat in Buildings (Bill). Consumer Scotland are also undertaking work on low carbon measures and their investigation team may engage with the RRG. 

RRG members were content with the shift in work plan and agreed that Non-surgical Procedures should be discussed at a future RRG meeting due to its evolving nature.

The Secretariat will update the workplan based on feedback and engage with relevant stakeholders to secure attendance.

Housing (Scotland) Bill

Policy officials from DG Net Zero were introduced and presented on the Housing (Scotland) Bill. A facilitated discussion then took place where the following key points were raised:

• Rent control caps could be an important part of a broader programme of work to help ensure the affordability of rent but members noted that the effectiveness of these hinges on the detail of design and implementation. 
• There is scope for much greater clarity within the Bill, for example, the monitoring and evaluation on rent control areas and how this would impact on rents and supply. It was also noted that further clarity is need on the criteria rent control would be judged against. However, members welcome the clarity the Stage 2 amendments would bring. Policy officials informed the RRG that guidance for landlords will be published in due course which will aim to provide greater clarity on the Bill’s provisions.
• As the Scottish Government has already declared a national housing emergency, members questioned if this Bill would stop new houses being built. The group highlighted the importance of balancing with other policy priorities such as Heat in Buildings and suggested engagement between the relevant policy teams.
• The group noted the need to balance consistency across Scotland with flexibility for areas given regional differences. Parliament had challenged the use of a framework Bill but this had been done to allow further consultation as individual elements were implemented. Members highlighted that landlords are not all large scale portfolio holders and institutional scale investors, some have 1 – 2 properties and this must be kept in mind throughout development of the Bill.
• Communication must be clear before the Bill goes into effect so that both tenants and landlords are aware of the Bill and how it will affect them. 

The delay in publishing a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) was highlighted as bad practice and members have requested that policy officials return to the RRG once the BRIA has been published and the planned amendments included. More detail being available will also enable further consideration on the interactions with the Heat in Buildings Bill. 

Any other business

The RRG has been approached by policy officials working on the development of the new tobacco and vaping register. The group will consider including this in their workplan.

It was agreed that the next meeting will take place virtually on 29 October 2024.