Business impact target assessments
Updated 12 January 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-business-impact-target/environment-agency-business-impact-target-assessments
The business impact target (BIT) is a cross-government target for the reduction of regulation on business. Find out more about the BIT.
Under the BIT, the Environment Agency assesses the financial impacts on business of qualifying regulatory provisions (QRPs). QRPs are changes to regulatory practices that are described in a written ministerial statement. A new statement is issued whenever parliament changes. We assess the impacts of these changes through BIT assessments.
We submit BIT assessments for QRPs to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) for validation.
Non-qualifying regulatory provisions (NQRPs) are excluded from the BIT as set out in a written ministerial statement.
Validated BIT assessments
The RPC has validated the BIT assessments listed in the table.
| Qualifying regulatory provision | BIT score (£ millions*) | Date of regulatory change (when it came into force) |
|---|---|---|
| The enhancement of the Environment Agency’s enforcement powers under The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2015 (RPC-3485(1)-DEFRA-EA) | 0 | October 2015 |
| Changes to landspreading activities (RPC-4004(1)-DEFRA-EA) | 0 | January 2016 |
| Standard rules for onshore oil and gas activities (RPC17-DEFRA-EA-3869(1)) | 0 | March 2016 |
| A new online service for registering waste exemptions (RPC-3754(1)-DEFRA-EA) | −2 | March 2016 |
| Removal of low risk regulatory positions allowing the storage, sorting and dismantling of waste catalytic convertors (RPC-3553(1)-DEFRA-EA) | 2 | April 2016 |
| Changes to standard rules for the deposit of waste on land for recovery (RPC-DEFRA-EA-3864(1)) | 0.5 | April 2016 |
| Amendments to hazardous waste guidance suite to adapt the tracking system to legal changes to premises registration (RPC-DEFRA-EA-3763) | 0 | April 2016 |
| Reducing the frequency of Certification Body inspections at intensive pig and poultry farms regulated under the Environmental Permitting Regulations (DEFRA-EA-3939(1)) | −0.5 | April 2016 |
| Revised fire prevention plan guidance (RPC-4037(1)-DEFRA-EA) | −55 | July 2016 |
| Onshore oil and gas sector guidance (RPC-3549(1)-DEFRA-EA) | −4 | August 2016 |
| Water Framework Directive assessment guidance for estuarine and coastal waters (RPC-3441(1)-DEFRA-EA) | −1 | September 2016 |
| Changing Water Company Look Up Table limit assessment from 365 days to 12 whole calendar months (RPC-3559(1)-DEFRA-EA) | 0 | January 2017 |
| Environment Agency Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS): performance standard for laboratories testing samples from stack emissions monitoring (RPC17-DEFRA-EA-3868(1)) | 0.5 | February 2017 |
| Technical Guidance note M9: Environmental monitoring of bioaerosols at regulated facilities (RPC-DEFRA-EA-3866(1)) | 0.5 | February 2017 |
| Amendment to industry requirements for ‘Corporate Radioactive Waste Adviser’ status (RPC-3728(1)-DEFRA-EA) | 0 | March 2017 |
| Extension of the incinerator bottom ash aggregate – regulatory position statement 206 | −196.7 | September 2017 |
| Further extension of incinerator bottom ash aggregate – regulatory position statement 206 | −37.1 | September 2017 |
| Further extension of incinerator bottom ash aggregate – regulatory position statement 206 | −102.6 | September 2017 |
| Further extension of incinerator bottom ash aggregate – regulatory position statement 247 | −254.4 | September 2017 |
| Water Abstraction E-Alerts (RPC-DEFRA-EA-5232(1)) | -31.5 | April 2022 |
*The BIT score is the annualised net cost or saving to business multiplied by the number of years the regulatory provision is in force. Or 5 years which reflects the length of a fixed term parliament. A positive score is a cost to business and a negative score is a saving.
Non-qualifying regulatory provisions
We publish a summary of all NQRPs for each BIT annual reporting period. The summary will include NQRPs that have:
- come into force
- ceased to be in force
- changed during the BIT annual reporting period