Regulatory Policy Committee: latest consultation stage opinions
The Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC), the Government’s appointed Independent Verification Body who scrutinise the underlying evidence base for regulatory proposals, today publishes its latest consultation stage opinions.
A total of 11 consultation stage opinions are published today. 7 of these consultations are currently live and open for comments, 4 are historic cases.
Of particular interest are:
BIS – Growth Duty
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are currently consulting on a proposal to ensure regulators take sufficient account of the economic consequences of their regulatory actions. The proposal will place a statutory duty on regulators to “have regard” to economic growth when making operational and policy decisions. The costs of the proposal to businesses are expected to be one-off costs of £0.9 million and ongoing costs of £0.2 million p.a.
The consultation on this proposal is currently open and can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
GEO – Gender Pay Gap
Consultation stage opinion published previously on RPC website. However, the consultation is now open and be viewed here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
DfH – Care Quality Commission fee raising powers
This is a proposal which aims to ensure the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has sufficient legal powers to charge fees that enable full cost recovery. The current fee raising powers only cover inspection costs; therefore the current fee raising powers are not sufficient to enable full cost recovery in the future. The largest costs of this proposal will be felt by NHS Trusts - £38.6 million per year by 2025/26 – and GPs - £34 million per year by 2025/26. The department estimates businesses will be charged an additional £37.7 million each year by 2025/26. This is expected to be lower initially, leading to an estimated equivalent annual net cost (EANCB) of £30 million.
The consultation on this proposal has recently closed. Feedback on the consultation can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
MOJ – Claims management regulation – financial claims
This proposal aims to tackle “exploitative pricing structures” that are adopted by claims management companies (CMCs) in their pursuit of claims, on behalf of consumers, relating to the mis-selling of financial products. The department estimates this proposal will cost business around £390 million each year.
The consultation on this proposal has recently closed. Feedback on the consultation can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
The remaining consultation stage opinions published are:
BIS – UK implementation of the EU Damages Directive
Consultation closes on 9th March 2016 and can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
HMT – Financial Policy Committee’s tools over the buy-to-let market
This consultation is currently open and the closing date is 8th March 2016. Find it here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
DEFRA – New authorisations for water abstraction
This consultation is open until 8th April 2016 and can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
BIS – Reforming the regulatory framework for employment agencies and employment businesses
This is a historic case and the government’s response to the consultation can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
HMT – EU payments account directive
This is another historic case and the government’s response can be viewed here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
MOJ – Enabling digital by default
This is a historic case and the government’s response can be found here.
The RPC opinion can be found here.
To view the full list of 11 published consultation stage opinions please click here.
All opinions published by the RPC are available on our website. The full list contains a link to original impact assessment the opinion refers to, a link to our opinion and the equivalent annual net cost to business (EANCB) of each measure. To view this list please click here.