Policy Hub
On 13 December 2004, the Scottish Executive published the first Improving Regulation Annual Report. The report covers the Executive's longstanding interest in improving regulation for business, charities and the voluntary sector, and builds on the theme of government, local government and agencies being open, transparent and of engaging in meaningful dialogue with those affected by such regulation.
As this is the first such report, it looks back over the years since devolution, showing the areas of progress, highlighting important new deregulatory processes that have been introduced and identifying areas where further engagement is planned. The report highlights the fact that most regulations that affect Scottish businesses are generated at either an EU or UK level. In 2003/4 the Executive completed 30 Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA) of various policy initiatives. Of these, only 11 were Scottish initiatives - the rest were from the EU. This compares with 182 RIAs at a UK level, of which 30 dealt with EU initiatives.
The full report can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website