What can government do?

The research framed the approach of government to leveraging fair work by drawing on Hood and Margett’s (2007) NATO approach.^[6] Put simply, the NATO approach identifies the various forms of influence that governments can use. NATO stands for Nodality, Authority, Treasure and Organisation. Nodality refers to the role and importance of government and policymakers within networks, where they can aid flows of information across key workplace actors. Authority refers to the power of government to regulate to ensure changes in or uptake of particular practices. Treasure refers to the resources that governments and policymakers can deploy to influence or shape practice, either by incentivising good practice or disincentivising poor practice. Organisation refers to the assets (human and material) available to government and policymakers to support the activities of other actors, for example, by deploying their own staff/officials to support other actors or networks.

Devolved government in the UK shapes the authority power of the Scottish Government. Considering powers that might be relevant to the hospitality industry and to fair work, the Scottish Government has devolved powers in relation to economic development, rural development, education and training, housing, local government (including business rates), transport and (some) infrastructure, and tourism. However, important relevant powers are reserved to the Westminster Parliament, including fiscal, economic and monetary policy; regulation of businesses and competition law; energy; immigration; employment and industrial relations; health and safety and equalities law. This inevitably constrains the extent to which the Scottish Government can use regulatory powers and requires reliance on other influencing strategies.