A Consultation on a Consumer Duty for Public Bodies
Feedback updated 5 Feb 2024
We asked
We asked for views on whether a statutory duty should be applied to all public authorities to improve how consumers are considered during strategic policy and decision-making. We held a public consultation, which was open for 12 weeks from 3 September 2021 and focused on three key areas:
- Public Authorities Bound by the Duty;
- Functions in Scope; and
- Reporting and Governance.
During this period we also engaged with public authorities and other stakeholders to listen to their thoughts.
You said
We received a total of 41 responses to the consultation from public authorities, regulators and individuals. Most responses were supportive of our plans to introduce a Consumer Duty.
The most common concerns raised related to:
- The potential impact on workloads relating to compliance with the Duty; and
- The need for clear guidance on how the Duty should be implemented.
Some respondents also stated that they didn’t think that the Duty should apply to them.
We did
During the summer and autumn of 2023, we carried out significant and targeted stakeholder engagement to ensure that all relevant public authorities were able to raise questions and concerns about the Duty; and to discuss how it would work within their own organisations.
We were able to use these engagements to discuss and allay concerns about the administrative burden and requirements associated with the Duty. It also became apparent through this engagement that some public authorities which had already been listed in the consultation should be excluded from the Duty.
This engagement then paved the way for the laying of the Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) for The Consumer Scotland (Relevant Public Authorities) Regulations 2024 in January 2024.
We have also ensured that when the SSI comes into force on 1 April 2024 that there will be an implementation year to allow public authorities to get used to applying the Consumer Duty to their strategic decisions. This will also enable stakeholders to work and engage with Consumer Scotland as it finalises its draft guidance on the Duty.
Published responses
View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.
Overview
The Consumer Scotland Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in June 2019, passed in May 2020, and received Royal Assent in June 2020. The Act now requires the Scottish Government to establish a consumer body – Consumer Scotland – to represent the needs of consumers.
Consumer Scotland will be a small, nimble organisation investigating the most serious areas of consumer detriment in Scotland. It will look at a small number of issues each year, and will focus on understanding the underlying cause of the detriment and proposing solutions.
Stakeholder feedback as we developed our proposals was consistent that an advocacy body alone could not improve outcomes for consumers, and that a more comprehensive change to how consumers are considered and integrated into policy and decision-making is needed. To this end, the Act also places a new Duty on public bodies to consider the impact of their policies on consumers.
Why your views matter
The Consumer Scotland Act does not specify which public bodies would be covered by this new Consumer Duty. Following this consultation, secondary legislation will be drafted indicating which public authorities will be bound by the Duty.
This consultation is to help focus and support the delivery of a Duty on specified public authorities to consider the impact of their policies on consumers.
What happens next
Handling your response
If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the About You page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.
All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.
If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please contact consumerandcompetition@gov.scot
To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy: https://www.gov.scot/privacy/
Next steps in the process
Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.
Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.
Interests
- Business, Industry and Innovation
- Economy
- Energy
- Equality, Welfare and Rights
- Public Sector
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