Introduction
1.1 Purpose
AECOM was commissioned by Transport Scotland (TS) to undertake a series of impact assessments on the National Transport Strategy (NTS) delivery plans for 2020-2022. These include the following:
- Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA)
- Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA)
- Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment (FSDA)
- Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)
- Health Inequality Impact Assessment (HIIA)
- Data Protection Impact Assessment (if required), and
- Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)
This report sets out a BRIA assessment of the Strategic Policies within the NTS Delivery Plan 2020–2022 based on existing evidence and internal engagement with TS and Scottish Government (SG) officers.
1.2 BRIA process
Figure 1-1 sets out the key activities and timescales for undertaking the BRIA. This shows that internal engagement with Scottish Government (SG) officials took place between August and September 2021 to gather as much information as possible about the NTS strategic policies and the actions related to them, as well as the likely impacts.
A screening report was produced prior to a period of consultation between November 2021 and January 2022 on the BRIA and the other impact assessments. The feedback and findings of the consultation have contributed towards completing this full BRIA on the NTS Delivery Plan 2020-22. A separate Consultation Report has been produced to provide an overview of the consultation process and a summary of responses and feedback.
Further engagement with seven businesses, including one to one discussions, have also been conducted during this time and are reported in full, in a separate consultation report.
- August 2021 - BRIA pre-screening report produced
- August-September 2021 - Internal engagement with TS officers
- August-September 2021 - BRIA screening report produced
- November 2021-January 2022 - Public consultation on the BRIA screening report
- January-April 2022 - Full BRIA for NTS2 delivery plan 2020-22
1.3 The NTS Delivery Plan 2020-2022
The NTS sets out the vision for Scotland’s transport system to 2040:
a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors.
NTS outlines four Priorities for the transport system: Reduces inequalities, Takes climate action, Helps deliver inclusive economic growth and Improves our health and wellbeing. The Vision and Priorities for NTS are set out in more detail in Figure 1-2.
The first NTS Delivery Plan sets out 199 broad actions the Scottish Government (SG) is taking to deliver on its vision and priorities to the end of March 2022, taking account of the impact of COVID-19. The second Delivery Plan (for 2022-23) will be published in 8th June 2022 and will outline SG’s actions for delivering the four priorities. Delivery Plans will be published on an annual basis.
Our vision
We will have a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors.
Reduces inequalities
- Will provide fair access to services we need
- Will be easy to use for all
- Will be affordable for all
Takes climate action
- Will help deliver our net-zero target
- Will adapt to the effects of climate change
- Will promote greener, cleaner choices
Helps deliver inclusive economic growth
- Will get people and goods where they need to get to
- Will be reliable, efficient and high quality
- Will use beneficial innovation
Improves our health and wellbeing
- Will be safe and secure for all
- Will enable us to make healthy travel choices
- Will help make our communities great places to live
The actions within the NTS Delivery Plans will also contribute to achieving the SG’s National Outcomes contained within the National Performance Framework as shown in Figure 1-3.
The NTS Delivery Plan was developed through collaboration and consultation with stakeholders across Scotland. In 2021, Transport Scotland established the NTS Forum, which provides an engagement platform composed of the following groups:
- People’s Panel: representing individuals across Scotland
- Business Group: including transport businesses and representative organisations, and
- Cross-Government Steering Group: formed of relevant policy leads and analysts across Scottish Government
Stakeholder engagement will focus on the future transport system in Scotland with regard to the four NTS priorities. The results of these discussions will be published by Transport Scotland for public access.
1.4 Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments (BRIAs)
A BRIA helps to assess the likely costs, benefits and risks of any proposed primary or secondary legislation, voluntary regulation, codes of practice, guidance, or policy changes that may have an impact on the public, private or third sector.
BRIA is not a legal requirement. The SG recommends and encourages the completion of a BRIA as best practice to assess the impact of new legislation, as well as other changes such as voluntary guidance or policy changes, even where they do not necessarily present additional obvious burdens. In such cases it can either help confirm understanding that the impact will not change or identify and address unintended impacts which have not been identified. The content of a BRIA should be proportionate to the problem involved and the size of the proposal.
A BRIA toolkit and template have been developed to provide guidance and information. These can be found online:
The BRIA will assess the likely impacts, costs, benefits and risks of the NTS Delivery Plans on public, private or third sector organisations. The information gathered through the consultation process has been used to revise the estimates of any costs and benefits of the actions prepared at the screening stage.