27 August 2025
By email to: SJSS.committee@parliament.scot
Dear Sir / Madam,
I am writing to you following the publication of the Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill and have set out Consumer Scotland's views below which I hope will be useful to the committee.
For background, Consumer Scotland is the statutory body for consumers in Scotland. Established by the Consumer Scotland Act 2020, we are accountable to the Scottish Parliament. The Act provides a definition of consumers which includes individual consumers and small businesses that purchase, use or receive products or services.
Our purpose is to improve outcomes for current and future consumers and our strategic objectives are:
- to enhance understanding and awareness of consumer issues by strengthening the evidence base
- to serve the needs and aspirations of current and future consumers by inspiring and influencing the public, private and third sectors
- to enable the active participation of consumers in a fairer economy by improving access to information and support
We responded to the Scottish Government’s Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill Consultation in February 2024.
Consumer Scotland is broadly supportive of the Bill’s aims, and we share many of its aspirations. Indeed, our Strategic Plan 2023-27 specifically notes our ambition to ensure that “every consumer can participate in a fair and sustainable economy, confident their needs and aspirations will be met”. In addition, the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 sets out Consumer Scotland’s core functions, which include the “promotion of sustainable consumption of natural resources and other environmentally sustainable practices, in terms of the purchase, use and disposal of goods by consumers” and “to have regard to the environmental impact of the actions of consumers”.
Additionally, the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 tasks Consumer Scotland with the function to undertake consumer advocacy and advice with a view to “advancing inclusion, fairness, prosperity and other aspects of wellbeing in Scotland”. In addition to the functions of carrying out research and analysis, and conducting policy and advocacy aimed at improving consumer outcomes, Consumer Scotland is also empowered to conduct investigations into sectors or practices which it considers cause, or may cause, harm to consumers, or otherwise for the purpose of fulfilling its general function.
General
We note that the policy objectives of the Bill are to ensure that public bodies consider the long-term impact of their decisions on health and wellbeing, and that they work together for this purpose. The Bill seeks to achieve these objectives by:
- establishing statutory definitions of the terms “sustainable development” and “wellbeing”
- imposing a statutory duty on public bodies to consider wellbeing and sustainable development in the exercise of their functions
- creating the office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Scotland
Wellbeing and sustainable development
Research across markets by Consumer Scotland and others consistently shows that poor consumer outcomes can impact on an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional health. This includes living in poor accommodation, not being able to resolve issues with products or services, and being unable to afford basic necessities. When problems like these cause consumers stress, cost money, or take up time, consumer detriment occurs.
The Consumer Detriment Survey 2024 found that around seven in ten consumers in Scotland – 3.1 million people – reported experiencing at least one detriment incident in the 12 months up to May 2024. Approximately half of these were associated with a negative impact on mental health, with more than one in ten having a very negative effect on mental health. Consumers in vulnerable circumstances, including with health conditions, are more likely to experience detriment than other consumers. Consumer Scotland published an assessment paper of the implications for policy arising from the survey’s key findings.
Consumers are increasingly expected to make sustainable choices, supporting the transition to net zero. This requires consumers to make changes to how they travel and to what they buy, to reduce their waste and to change how they use energy and water at home. The net zero transition will also require substantial investment to upgrade infrastructure and change how key services are delivered. Much of this investment will be raised through consumers’ bills.
The costs of these changes are significant and consumers in Scotland already face many financial pressures, with significant price rises across many goods and services in recent years. The scale and complexity of the net zero transition also brings other challenges for consumers. Government and others will need create an enabling environment which provides consumers with the confidence, clarity and convenience that they need, if they are to play their part.
To this end, we recommend that Section 2 of the Bill (definition of sustainable development) is amended to clearly recognise the significant role that consumer behaviour has to play in helping Scotland reach its net zero targets.
Consumer wellbeing plays a key role in Scotland’s social, environmental and economic landscape. Spending by consumers makes up a substantial component (over 60%) of economic output. If the Bill is to establish a new statutory definition of wellbeing for Scotland, then it will be important that this clearly recognises the existing legal provisions regarding wellbeing which are already in place – including provisions relating to the wellbeing of consumers in Scotland.
We recommend that any statutory definition of wellbeing should include explicit reference to how the experiences of people as consumers impacts upon both their individual wellbeing, and on the wellbeing of Scotland as a whole. The definition should draw on the internationally recognised consumer principles, which set out what a positive consumer experience is likely to include. These principles are:
- access – can people get the goods or services they need or want?
- choice – do people have any meaningful choice of goods or services?
- safety – are consumers adequately protected from risks of harm when purchasing, using or receiving goods and services?
- information – is the information about goods or services accessible, accurate and useful
- fairness – are all consumers treated fairly when accessing goods or services?
- representation – do consumers have a meaningful role in shaping how goods and services are designed and provided?
- redress – if something goes wrong in the supply of goods and services, is there an accessible and simple way for consumers to have this put right?
Any definition should also address:
- the harm that consumers may encounter when purchasing, using or receiving a good or service, and how they can be protected from such harm;
- the level of confidence that consumers have when dealing with businesses that supply goods and services and how this can be increased;
- the sustainable consumption of natural resources and other environmentally sustainable practices, in terms of the purchase, use and disposal of goods by consumers; and
- the particular experiences of consumers in vulnerable circumstances
We consider that these elements are currently missing from the definition of wellbeing contained in the Bill. We also recommend that the Committee consider how the relevant language from the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 could help to frame a focus on consumers within the sustainable development definition in the Bill.
Statutory Duty on Public Bodies
Consumer Scotland is particularly interested in the section of the Bill that highlights the intention to create a new public duty requiring public bodies to have due regard for the need to promote wellbeing and sustainable development in the exercise of their functions.
It may be helpful to note that Consumer Scotland introduced final guidance on its ‘Consumer Duty’ in February 2025 – a statutory duty on all public bodies introduced via the Consumer Scotland Act 2020. The Duty places an obligation on relevant public authorities in Scotland in the context of strategic decisions, namely that they must have regard to:
- the impact of those decisions on consumers in Scotland
- the desirability of reducing harm to consumer in Scotland
Consumers, and organisations with an interest in improving outcomes for consumers, can use the duty to hold public bodies to account and help to ensure consumer interests are given sufficient weight throughout the strategic decision-making process.
Generally speaking, when public bodies are considering whether their strategic decisions have an impact on consumers, sustainability may be an issue that they reflect on. Indeed, the guidance underlines that we are currently considering an eighth consumer principle on sustainability, with a view to including practical advice for authorities on how such a principle can be reflected in decision-making.
Consumer Scotland therefore recently published a new framework for addressing climate change, a toolkit to help policymakers, regulators and businesses make it easier for consumers to engage in Scotland’s transition to net zero and the country’s adaptation to climate change. It is based on a range of evidence, including Consumer Scotland’s growing evidence base, and reflects a shared understanding of consumers, the way consumers view climate change, and the challenges that a changing climate poses for us all. The framework encourages policymakers to use cost, convenience, clarity, and confidence (the 4 Cs) as key issues for considering the role of consumers in progressing the transition to a more sustainable future.
We recommend that the Committee consider the importance of any duty being complementary to and coherent with existing legislation, in particular the Consumer Scotland Act 2020. Achieving this alignment will be important to enable public bodies take a coherent, joined up approach to delivering the outcomes intended through the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 and the Bill in an efficient and effective way that reduces the risk of duplication or inconsistency of approach.
We recognise that the Consumer Duty is focussed primarily on issues affecting consumers. However, as set out above, we anticipate that elements of our work can help to complement the wider work that is being advanced by the Bill and we would be happy to discuss this further if useful.
Future Generations Commissioner
Consumer Scotland recognises that the introduction of a new public duty would typically come with additional responsibilities, such as issuing and updating guidance, awareness raising, and promotion. These are included in the functions that Section 5 of the Bill attributes to a Future Generations Commissioner and we consider that if there is to be a Commissioner, this would be appropriate.
We are mindful that the concepts of wellbeing and sustainability sit within a complex legal framework that includes the UN Sustainable Development Goals, human rights law, the National Performance Framework, consumer law, and a range of existing public sector duties. These areas each have their own mechanisms for checks and balances, and there may be overlap between how these functions are exercised.
In this context, we note the Finance and Public Administration Committee published Scotland's Commissioner Landscape: A Strategic Approach in September 2024. This contained six guiding principles when considering the need for the establishment of a new commissioner. Consumer Scotland notes that the Policy Memorandum contains reference to these principles.
We note that the report also led to the establishment of the SPCB Supported Bodies Landscape Review Committee. One of its duties was to formalise strengthened criteria for creating new supported bodies, which includes commissioners. Since the introduction of this Bill in March 2025, this Committee has published its own report in June 2025[DW1] . Its scrutiny of the guidance principles has resulted in the recommendation to implement a new set of two-tier criteria for justification and effectiveness of new SPCB supported bodies.
As the Bill proposes to establish a new Commissioner, we would welcome detailed evidence that the two-tier criteria have now been applied to the Bill and the result.
I hope these comments are helpful, and if you require any further detail or clarification, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Yours sincerely,
Andy Murphy
Strategic Partnerships Manager
Consumer Scotland