The overall role of the public authorities is seen to be one of enabling, not regulating. In this concept of CSR the drive emanates from business and is managed principally by business. The Scottish parliament has identified specific activities where it could directly contribute to the growth of CSR. These include developing linkages with large national and international enterprises; securing the engagement of SME’s; engaging not-for-profit social enterprises; expanding the scope of engagement into rural areas; encouraging the community to engage with business; and ‘joining up’ the public sector.

The government of Scotland has powers over subjects related to CSR in fields such as: Economy, education, environment, employment, Social affairs and local government.
On 1 July 1999 the Scottish Parliament assumed its full powers and duties. Some legislative powers, previously held by the UK Parliament at Westminster, were given to the Scottish Parliament through a process called devolution. The ministerial powers and duties relating to devolved matters were transferred to the Scottish Ministers in the Scottish Executive while the responsibilities relating to reserved matters were retained by the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Scottish Parliament is designed to embody and reflect the sharing of power between the people of Scotland, the Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and the Scottish Executive.