A local authority General Power of Competence

Feedback updated 30 Jun 2025

We asked

In response to requests to consider a general power of competence for local authorities in Scotland, we launched a consultation to seek views on:

The perceived barriers, risks and limitations of existing legislative powers.
What functions, beyond those already conferred by statute, local authorities in Scotland wish to pursue and whether new legislation or amendments to existing legislation would best deliver those additional functions.
The continuing reluctance in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to rely on a General Power of Competence and how best to ensure the effective framing of similar legislative powers in Scotland to provide clarity and confidence to local authorities in the use of such powers.
How best to ensure that legislation contains the right balance of flexibility and control to mitigate risks arising from greater financial freedoms.

The consultation proposed various approaches for consideration, which reflected the possibility of:

retaining the existing statutory framework without change,
amendments to widen the scope of existing legislative powers whilst retaining appropriate controls to mitigate risk,
introducing a General Power of Competence.

You said

The consultation elicited a wide range of divergent views. A clear preference was expressed for a general power of competence by some, whilst others felt that specific rather than general powers would best serve the public interest whilst providing the flexibility and greater certainty sought by local authorities to pursue innovation without fear of legal challenge. Some felt that a general power of competence or amendments to existing legislation could deliver the greater freedoms sought by local authorities. Some respondents did not support the introduction of a general power of competence or amendments to existing legislation, and highlighted the risks of removing existing safeguards designed to protect public funds and the provision of public services.

We did

We have carefully reviewed the range of views expressed. Options will now be explored to deliver an appropriate balance between the aspirations of Local Government for greater local empowerment and confidence in innovation whilst providing public assurance that appropriate safeguards are in place to mitigate financial risk and ensure continued prioritisation and delivery of core public services.

Results updated 30 Jun 2025

The results of the consultation are now available: Consultation on a local authority general power of competence analysis report.

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

The Scottish Government would like to invite you to respond to this consultation on a local authority General Power of Competence.

We are pleased to be taking forward this work as part of our commitment to joint partnership working with COSLA and Local Government and would like to ask for your views and perspectives on potential legislative changes to enable local authorities to more effectively deliver public services.

A General Power of Competence

A General Power of Competence is commonly defined as a statutory power to do “anything that individuals may generally do”, and is currently available to local authorities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

A number of representations have been made to the Scottish Government seeking the introduction of a similar General Power of Competence for local authorities in Scotland.

However, despite the existence of a General Power of Competence in England, Wales and Northern Island, many local authorities continue to be reluctant to use that power to explore activity beyond those functions explicitly set out in statute, due to concerns as to potential legal challenge and interpretations by the courts of the limitations of the scope of this power.

This consultation therefore seeks to establish what functions, beyond those already conferred by statute, local authorities in Scotland may wish to pursue and whether new legislation or amendments to existing legislation would be required to deliver those additional functions.

This consultation also seeks to explore how best to deliver a level of confidence and assurance to local authorities to ensure that any further powers are utilised effectively.

Responses are sought, in relation to both existing legislative powers in Scotland and the wider legislative powers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, on the barriers to using such power, the concerns and perceived risks and potential conflict with other legislative provisions.

Views are also sought on how best to ensure that legislation contains the right balance of flexibility and control to mitigate risks arising from any greater statutory freedoms.

Read the consultation paper. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.

Responding to this consultation Responding to this consultation

As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.

Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.

On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.

If you prefer to read the consultation and return the completed questionnaure via email you can download the consultation paper here and email it to GPCconsultation@gov.scot.

After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.

A analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. You can also join our consulation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).

Why your views matter

Consultation responses will be collated and used to inform the development of proposals to deliver greater local authority functional empowerment. A formal Scottish Government response to the consultation will be published in due course, setting out the conclusions drawn and proposed next steps.

What happens next

Interests

Public Sector
Main hub

Contact