Effective regulation in the public, private and third sectors is essential in guaranteeing the quality services and products Scottish consumers receive. However, public sector budgets are under threat. Private sector businesses are competing for consumers who have increasingly tight budgets. Third sector organisations face another period of acute funding uncertainty. How can bodies across all three sectors deliver compliance in regulation and scrutiny in challenging circumstances? The challenge is to comply with current expectations, prepare for what is coming next and still deliver what consumers expect. The question is, how?
In 2006 the Crerar Review reported its recommendations on how Scotland's systems of regulation, audit, and inspection and complaints handling for public services could be improved. The 2014 Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act aimed to further improve the way regulation is developed and applied in order to deliver consistent and proportionate regulation. Now, the First Minister has committed the Scottish Government to a new programme for regulatory reform in the Programme for Government published on 5th September 2023.
After almost a quarter century of the Scottish Parliament, 17 years since the Crerar Review and 9 years following the Regulatory Reform Act, what has changed in how we regulate and what is expected in accountability? What new demands are emerging from consumers sharing knowledge through legally enforcable information rights? How has the rise of social media in spreading information and disinformation changed the regulatory terrain? In what way has increased consumer and citizen willingness to participate in driving service change altered the challenges for service providers? What changes can regulators and regulated expect from regulatory reform?
This conference discusses Scotland's regulators and regulatory regimes and the approach in Scotland to the regulation of public services, markets and companies. It examines how disruptive technology and data, changing consumer demands and developing trends in regulation are combining to affect accountability, service delivery and improvement.
Who regulates and how? What is the purpose of regulation? How can regulators strike a balance between proportionality, effective scrutiny and compliance? What are the key drivers for reform? How can service providers and businesses increase compliance levels within budgetary constraints?
The conference is structured to discuss regulation in Scotland in three parts:
Benefits of attending
Who should attend
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Partner
Harper Macleod LLP
Head of ICO Regions
Information Commissioner's Office
Rosemary Agnew
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Rosemary Agnew took up the post of Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on 1 May 2017. Immediately prior to this she was the Scottish Information Commissioner (2012-2017).
Since 2001, Rosemary has held various roles in relation to public sector complaints, including with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and the Local Government Ombudsman in the UK.
Rosemary is committed to transparent, sustainable improvement in Scottish public services. She sees complaints and what is learned from them as an integral part of the improvement landscape. Equally, she recognises the importance of being the final stage of the complaints process in Scotland for most public services and in ensuring that, where things go wrong for individuals, action is taken to put them right as far as possible.
Fiona Killen
Partner
Harper Macleod LLP
Fiona is one of the most highly-regarded lawyers in Scotland for public, parliamentary and administrative law. She has a deep working knowledge and expertise across a range of legal areas including public and regulatory law, data protection, freedom of information, human rights, corporate governance and parliamentary affairs.
With a background in both contentious and non-contentious matters, she is highly experienced in a wide range of sectors, with a particular focus on education as well as the public sector.
She has in-depth knowledge and first-hand insight of how Governments and Parliaments work on a day-to-day basis, alongside extensive experience of legislative procedures and public sector governance.
She has worked in the Scottish Parliament, UK Parliament and the US Senate in legal and political roles, and in higher education. She was a member of the Scottish Government’s Human Rights Leadership Task Force and sits on the Law Society of Scotland’s sub-committees on constitutional law, human rights, privacy law and its freedom of information working group.
Fiona is ranked by Chambers in Band 1 for both Administrative & Public Law and Parliamentary & Public Affairs. She is ranked within Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Parliamentary & Public Affairs, and as a Leading Individual for Education Law.
Ken Macdonald
Head of ICO Regions
Information Commissioner's Office
Ken Macdonald, Head of ICO Regions, leads our Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland offices. A graduate of Edinburgh (MA) and Aberdeen (PhD) universities, Ken joined the ICO in 2005 after a career in the higher education, private consultancy and local authority sectors.
Scotland has its own Information Commissioner who regulates the Freedom for Information (Scotland) Act which covers Scottish public authorities. Because of this, the main focus of our Scottish office is data protection, for which the ICO is the sole regulatory body in Scotland. However, the ICO does have regulatory power under the Freedom of Information Act for UK public authorities based in Scotland. These include:
BBC Scotland (in relation to its public functions); and
The Northern Lighthouse Board.
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