CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB/030/07) issued by The Government News Network on 2
April 2007
Cabinet Office
Minister Pat McFadden today announced a new Impact Assessment (IA)
process to ensure that all new regulation is necessary and carried
out with minimum burdens. This improves on the previous Regulatory
Impact Assessment (RIA) with a simpler, more transparent process
that will be embedded in the earliest stage of policy making. The
new arrangements will begin from mid-May and all IAs will be
available from an online database making them easily available for
public scrutiny.
Impact Assessments are a key tool for making modern regulation
that is proportionate to the issue it is designed to tackle. In
some cases RIAs have been very successful at achieving this, but
weaknesses in the process have led to inconsistency in its
application. Following a public consultation, the new IAs will
have a more prominent role in policy-making, be more transparent
and build on the successes of RIAs.
Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden said:
"Regulations protect people from serious risks to their
health and livelihoods but the cost of implementing them should be
kept as low as possible. The new Impact Assessments will mean
clearer guidelines for policy makers and an insistence that the
Impact Assessment is conducted early in the development of
regulation. This should help ensure that burdens are minimised."
The key features of the revised Impact Assessment are:
* A revised template to improve clarity and transparency
including new requirements to summarise both the rationale for
government intervention and evidence supporting the final proposal.
* An online database of all Impact Assessments to allow greater
public scrutiny.
* A strengthened Ministerial declaration to bolster the quality
of the analysis in IAs, supported by improved arrangements within departments.
* Revised guidance for policy makers to make it easier for them
to produce high quality IAs focused on the burden of the
regulations they are developing.
* There will be an increased emphasis on post-implementation
review. The new Impact Assessment will be more transparent to
stakeholders and policy-makers.
Notes to Editors
1/ The Government's response to the consultation on RIAs is
available at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/ria/consultation_response/
2/ The Guidance for the new Impact Assessment can be viewed at:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/ria/ia_guidance/
3/ The Better Regulation Executive in the Cabinet Office works
across government to support and challenge departments and
regulators in minimising bureaucracy for businesses, front-line
staff in the public sector and to the third sector. The Better
Regulation Executive also plays an active role in promoting the
better regulation agenda in Europe. Further information available
at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/index.asp
Cabinet Office Press Office 22 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2WH
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk