(Updated) Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill IA: Statement from the RPC
Updated Regulatory Policy Committee statement on the lack of an impact assessment for the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill
Updated 21st February
Following BEIS’s submission of the IA to the RPC on 2nd February (after the Bill had been passed by the House of Commons), we have worked hard to produce an opinion on the IA that might be of value to consideration in the House of Lords. The RPC opinion and IA were published today (21st February), in time for the Bill’s second reading stage in the House of Lords, and can be found here and here respectively. The IA is red-rated as not-fit-for-purpose and the Cost Benefit Analysis in the IA was rated as Weak (i.e. the analysis is not sufficiently robust to address the issue. Improvements are required in one or a number of areas. It provides inadequate support for decision-making on these aspects of the assessment). The shortened timescale for RPC scrutiny meant that we were not able to issue an Initial Review Notice, which might have allowed the department (originally BEIS, now DBT) to improve the IA and submit a revised one in the hope of receiving a green rating ahead of publication.
Updated 3th February
This Bill was introduced into Parliament on 10 January 2023. It was passed by the House of Commons on 30 January and was read for a first time in the House of Lords on 31 January.
BEIS has today (2 February) submitted an IA to the RPC for scrutiny, even though (as noted below) it should have been submitted before the relevant bill was laid before Parliament and in time for the RPC to issue an opinion alongside publication of the IA. We are working to produce our opinion as quickly as possible and will make it available to Government, Parliament and on our website as soon as our scrutiny is completed.
Original statement 16th January
The RPC produces its opinions to help departments ensure the evidence and analysis in their impact assessments (IAs) is sufficiently robust. We provide an independent opinion to assist both final ministerial decision-making and Parliamentary scrutiny of regulatory legislation. We publish these when it is appropriate to do so, both to assist parliamentarians and so that the process is transparent to external stakeholders.
The RPC notes that the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill was introduced into Parliament on 10 January 2023. Second reading is scheduled for today (16 January). Government departments are expected to submit IAs to the RPC before the relevant bill is laid before Parliament and in time for the RPC to issue an opinion alongside the publication of the IA. An IA for this Bill has not yet been submitted for RPC scrutiny; nor has one been published despite the Bill being currently considered by Parliament.
Last updated 3 February 2023 + show all updates
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Updated statement
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First published.