Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024

15 Regulations about support

(1) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations make provision for or in connection with the provision of support or support for a particular purpose.

(2) Regulations under this section may, in particular, make provision about—

(a) eligibility criteria for receiving support (see section 16),

(b) payment entitlements (see section 17),

(c) the amount of support, including—

(i) how the amount of support is to be determined,

(ii) setting a minimum amount for a payment of support,

(iii) reducing the amount of payments of support in particular circumstances (other than those described in section 11),

(d) how support is to be paid or otherwise provided,

(e) conditions that may or must be imposed when providing support,

(f) checking, enforcing and monitoring support (see section 18),

(g) such administrative and procedural matters in connection with the provision of support as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate, and

(h) the publication of information about support that is being or has been provided (see section 19).

(3) Before making regulations under this section, the Scottish Ministers must consult such persons as they consider likely to be interested in or affected by provisions in this section.

(4) Regulations under this section—

(a) are subject to the affirmative procedure if the regulations in question, in the opinion of the Scottish Ministers, would make significant provision, or

(b) otherwise, are subject to the negative procedure.

(5) For the purpose of subsection (4)(a), significant provision includes—

(a) establishing a scheme in respect of support for a particular purpose which will—

(i) have a significant number of potential recipients or have a significant impact on recipients,

(ii) affect a significant amount of land or have a significant impact on a particular type of land,

(iii) have a significant monetary value (as assessed by reference to the value of support generally),

(iv) create a criminal offence (see section 18), and

(b) making significant changes to an existing scheme of support that is, by reference to the matters in paragraph (a), a significant scheme.