Executive summary
National Records of Scotland (NRS) published a consultation on the fees associated with the Scottish Register of Tartans on 7 April 2025. The consultation closed on 29 June 2025. We received 30 responses: five from organisations and 25 from individuals. The consultation asked four key questions. Not all respondents answered all the questions.
Of the 30 respondents:
- 28 agreed with the proposal that NRS should recover its costs for delivering the tartans service. Two respondents disagreed. 20 respondents provided additional comments on the proposal.
- Nine had no comments on the revised fees proposed in the consultation, while 21 made comments. Many of those who made comments supported the fees as proposed.
- 24 agreed that future fees should increase with inflation, five disagreed and one did not know. Additional comments on inflationary increases were provided by 15 respondents.
- 22 agreed that NRS should discontinue providing framed certificates, six disagreed and two did not know. 17 respondents provided additional comments.
Following analysis of all the responses, the Keeper of the Scottish Register of Tartans (the Keeper) recommends that Scottish Ministers increase the fees associated with the Register to the level proposed in our consultation paper. The Keeper also recommends that NRS should no longer offer framed certificates as part of the service.
Background
National Records of Scotland maintains the Scottish Register of Tartans (the Register) under the instruction of the Keeper. The Register helps to promote and preserve information about historic and contemporary tartans from Scotland and around the world. It acts as a repository for the preservation of tartans and a source of information.
The NRS Chief Executive, Alison Byrne OBE, acts as the Keeper. The Register was launched on 5 February 2009 and holds over 10,000 tartans, with around a further 400 registered each year. The public can search the Register through our dedicated website.
The Register is underpinned by statute. The Scottish Register of Tartans Act gives Scottish Ministers the power to set the fees relating to the Register by way of an order. Scottish Ministers last set the fees when the Register was founded in 2009. Until now, the fees haven’t been reviewed.
NRS is a non-ministerial department in the devolved Scottish administration. As a public body, NRS is obliged to follow the guidance contained in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (the Manual). The Manual emphasises the need for economy, efficiency and effectiveness. It promotes good practice and high standards of propriety. The Manual states that public bodies should recover the full costs of delivering goods and services. It also encourages recovering past deficits. The Manual notes that charging for services helps avoid unnecessary public expenditure, eliminates subsidies and promotes competition. Charging incentivises effectiveness and efficiency.
The schedule of the Scottish Register of Tartans Fees Order 2009 (the Fees Order) sets out the current fees payable for services provided by the Keeper. NRS is not recovering the costs of its tartans service. We sought customers' views on increasing the fees through our public consultation.
Consultation
We would like to thank all respondents for providing their views to help inform our next steps. We have carefully considered all the comments provided.
In this report, we don’t aim to reflect every opinion expressed in the consultation. Rather this report summarises common themes and key points raised. Where respondents have given permission, we have published their response on Citizen Space.
We asked respondents to provide their views on our proposals to increase the fees associated with the Register. We also sought views on a proposal to discontinue the provision of framed certificates.
Respondents were invited to respond using the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space. Those unable to access or use Citizen Space were asked to respond via email or in writing. The consultation was live for 12 weeks.
The consultation asked the following questions:
- Do you agree that NRS should recover its costs for delivering the tartans service?
- Do you have any comments on the proposed revised fees as set out in the table?
- Do you agree that future fees relating to the Scottish Register of Tartans should increase with inflation?
- Do you agree that NRS should discontinue providing framed certificates?
For each of the four questions, respondents were asked to explain their answers or provide more information. The consultation was launched on Citizen Space on 7 April 2025. On the same day, we published the full consultation paper on our website. The consultation ran for 12 weeks, closing on 29 June 2025. We promoted the publication through our social media channels. We also contacted key stakeholders directly by email to let them know about the consultation.
Responses
We received 30 responses. All were content for their responses to be published and can be found on Citizen Space.
Table 1. Consultation responses
| Interest Group |
Number of respondents |
| Individuals |
25 |
| Third sector organisations |
2 |
| Commercial organisations |
3 |
Analysis of responses
The NRS policy team analysed all the responses. We refer to organisations and individuals as respondents through this report. Response results are outlined below:
Question 1: Do you agree that NRS should recover its costs for delivering the tartans service?
- 28 respondents answered “yes”
- Two answered “no”
20 respondents explained their answer or provided more information. Respondents overwhelming agreed that NRS should recover its costs. The Scottish Tartans Authority noted:
“Tartan is one of Scotland's most important and visible assets. The Scottish Register of Tartans has enhanced accessibility to information on tartan as well as to an extensive database that includes over 10,000 patterns. To be able to do deliver this service in a professional and accurate manner involves cost. It is only right that NRS should recover its costs in this regard.”
Other respondents that supported the proposal commented:
“There is no such thing as a free service.”
“Absolutely necessary for NRS to recover its costs in order to keep delivering a first-class service.”
“It’s a vital service and should be covered with as little burden to taxpayers as possible.”
Two respondents opposed NRS recovering its costs. One commented that the proposed fees were too high:
“More than doubling the cost of this service is insane. Part of NRS duty is to maintain the register, less people will register so costa [sic] will go up year on year and price people out.”
Another indicated that they felt the service should be discontinued completely.
Question 2: Do you have any comments on the proposed revised fees as set out in [Annex A]?
- 21 respondents answered “yes”
- Nine answered “no”
Eight respondents indicated that they agreed with our proposed fees. The Scottish Tartans Authority commented:
“I am in agreement with the proposed revised fees. Registering a tartan should be accessible but, at the same time, should reflect the importance of tartan as well as reflecting its cultural significance.”
One respondent suggested that the fees should be higher than our proposed fees: “If a company can pay the money to develop/design a tartan, they can pay £500 to register it.”
Three respondents indicated that some of the proposed fees had been set too high. A further three respondents suggested that the fees should vary depending on who would use the service. For example, the fees should vary according to the type of organisation using the service (not for profit or commercial) or the applicants’ place of residence (within or out with Scotland).
Two respondents commented that the fees should increase incrementally. One asked: “Doubling the prices seems to be a bit of a jump. Is there a way to phase in the prices over time instead of an overnight jump?”
One respondent opposed the whole idea of the Register completely.
Question 3: Do you agree that future fees relating to the Scottish Register of Tartans should increase with inflation?
- 24 respondents answered “yes”
- Five respondents answered “no”
- One respondent answered “don’t know”
15 respondents commented on future fees and inflation. 11 of the 15 respondents agreed that the fees should rise with inflation, with one respondent stating:
“This is very important. The process of applying for an increase in prices takes time and cost which is not necessary. Your agreement to allow prices to rise with inflation would be greatly appreciated.”
One respondent commented that fees should only be increased based on verified costs. Three respondents indicated that the fees should increase periodically (once every three to 10 years) rather than annually.
Question 4: Do you agree that NRS should discontinue providing framed certificates?
- 22 respondents answered “yes”
- Six respondents answered “no”
- Two respondents answered “don’t know”
17 respondents provided comments or further information to this question. Fourteen respondents who made comments indicated that NRS should discontinue the service. Many commented that customers could frame certificates themselves.
One respondent indicated that NRS could make a profit by selling framed certificates. Another said NRS should continue the service but at cost.
Issues raised and NRS response
It was clear from the responses that there was broad support for most of NRS’s proposals. In particular there was strong agreement that:
- NRS should recover its costs for delivering the tartans service
- future fees relating to the Register should increase with inflation
- NRS should discontinue providing framed certificates
Respondents’ views on what level the fees should be set were mixed. Eight respondents clearly agreed with our proposed fees, but the views of others were more nuanced. Respondents raised a number of issues in their responses, some of which were raised by more than one respondent. The key issues and our responses are detailed below.
Issue 1: Different fees for different customers
A small number of respondents suggested that NRS should charge different fees depending on customers’ characteristics. One respondent suggested that: “a small charity, not-for-profit group or individual should not have to pay the same as a commercial company” Another commented: “I would like to see the register costs tiered so that Scottish residents and Scottish companies pay less than those from outside Scotland.”
We have carefully considered these suggestions but have decided to recommend flat fees for the following reasons.
First, as noted above, the Scottish Public Finance Manual obliges NRS to recover its costs. We should not subsidise services without very compelling reasons. Any subsidy would therefore have to be met by other customers of the service, in other words, the larger businesses or people outside of Scotland. NRS cannot justify such an approach.
Second, using the tartans service should be as straightforward as possible. Requiring customers to prove their status would complicate the process and may discourage participation. Moreover, it would require additional staff time and costs, leading to fees higher than those proposed in the consultation.
Thirdly, there could be damage to NRS’s global reputation if we were to charge people outside of Scotland more than people in Scotland.
Issue 2: Incremental increase in fees
Some respondents indicated that our proposed fees were too much of a jump, and that we should phase any increase over time. One respondent asked:
“This is a substantial increase 114% in the case of the registration fee, so feels too large a jump in price ... Perhaps a staged increase over a few years rather than such a significant change?”
Again, we have carefully considered this issue but are unable to recommend incremental increase. Our fees have not risen since the Register was established in 2009. We are not recovering the costs of the service, which contradicts the guidance in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Any further delay recovering our actual costs would mean further subsidies: something that NRS cannot justify.
Issue 3: Frequency of future increases
As noted above, some respondents expressed concerns about annual fee increases. One respondent suggested fee revisions once every three years, another every five years and another every 10 years.
After considering this issue, we are unable to make recommendations about the timing of future fee increases. A variety of factors beyond NRS’s control influence the cost of the service. Recent experience has taught us that global events impact our costs. For example, Brexit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and energy wholesale prices have increased inflation. Given such uncertainty, it would be prudent not to tie the hands of future ministers. We will however keep the fees under regular review to minimise the risk of large increases.
Next steps
Now that we have analysed all the responses to our consultation, the Keeper has recommended that Scottish Ministers increase the fees as set out in the table in Annex A. We have also recommended that NRS discontinue providing framed certificates.
This will allow us to recover the costs of running the service, putting us in a more sustainable financial position. This in turn will strengthen the Register’s ability to promote and preserve information about tartans for future generations in Scotland and around the world.
Annex A – Proposed fee increases
| Service |
Current fee |
Proposed fee |
| Inspection of Tartan Register documents or other physical objects. |
£6 |
£12.80 |
| Copies of any Tartan Register document - per 5 sheets. |
£2.50 |
£5.40 |
| Provision of information in relation to the Register by the Keeper. |
£40 |
£85 |
| Carrying out research in relation to the Register. |
£40 per hour |
£85 per hour |
| Application to register a tartan. |
£70 |
£150 |
| Request to reconsider refused application. |
£40 |
£85 |
| Provision of copy of certificate of registration by the Keeper. |
£15 |
£32 |
| Request to amend the Register. |
£25 |
£54 |
| Provision of amended certificate of registration by the Keeper. |
£15 |
£32 |
| Provision of framed certificate, framed copy of certificate or framed amended certificate by the Keeper. |
£30 |
Delete from the Fees Order |
| Certificate of inclusion in the Register. |
- |
£32 |
