Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government how they apply the business impact target (BIT) to regulations relating to fire safety in buildings; whether they intend to review the application of BIT to such regulations; and whether they intend to exempt such regulations from BIT.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government is considering how best to continue to deliver its commitment to regulate more efficiently and effectively over the course of this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government whether, and how, the wider social costs and benefits of regulations are taken into account by Government departments in (1) achieving their policy objectives for the business impact target, (2) the implementation of the One in, Three out rule announced by the Business Secretary on 3 March 2016, and (3) the application of the requirement to identify £3 in savings for each £1 of additional cost when assessing proposed new regulations.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance on policy appraisal and evaluation sets out how the economic, financial, social and environmental assessments of a policy, or specification of regulations, should be combined. The Government has not yet decided how its better regulation system will operate in this Parliament. This includes any One-In, Two-Out policy and the setting of a target in respect of the economic impact of new regulation on business for this Parliament as required under section 21 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what estimates of (1) the value of lives saved, and (2) additional life years gained, they use when classifying proposed regulatory measures as “in”, “out” or “zero net cost” in departmental submissions to the Regulatory Policy Committee.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance on policy appraisal and evaluation sets out how the economic, financial, social and environmental assessments of a policy, or specification of regulations, should be combined. It includes guidance on appraising social impacts, such as health and welfare benefits and prevented fatality and how to weight such considerations against other impacts.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government whether the Regulatory Policy Committee is empowered to rate an impact assessment as inadequate on the grounds that it does not adequately consider the wider social costs and benefits of proposed regulatory measures.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) comments on the Government’s performance in assessing regulatory impacts as set out in Impact Assessments. These assessments should address the wider societal costs and benefits. The RPC sets out its view on the analysis contained in the impact assessments in its published Opinions and annual reports. Under its current remit, the RPC cannot rate an impact assessment as ‘not fit for purpose’ in relation to wider societal impacts at final stage. The Government has not yet decided what approach it will take to deliver better regulation during the current Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the Grenfell Tower disaster, what plans they have to review their one-in, two-out policy for new regulations.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has not yet decided how its better regulation system, including any One-In, Two-Out policy, will operate in this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to assess the impact of the Cabinet Office Cutting Red Tape programme on building safety; if so, what those plans are; and if not, whether they will consider doing so.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Cutting Red Tape programme was a series of reviews of regulation and its implementation run jointly by the Cabinet Office and BEIS during the 2015-17 Parliament. Building regulations were relevant to the Cutting Red Tape Review into House Building which was published in February 2017 and focused specifically on new builds. The report did not make recommendations, but reported the findings from consultation with business and other interests, including areas where there might be overlap and duplication between planning conditions and building regulations. The findings of the review helped to inform the Housing White Paper which was published at the same time.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total reduction in regulatory costs on business since 2015; and what is their estimate of the total reduction expected by 2020.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
In June 2016 the Government reported net savings to business of £885 million from regulatory provisions that counted towards its Business Impact Target during the first year of the 2015-17 Parliament. The Government has not yet published a final report covering the whole of the 2015-17 Parliament.
The Government does not have an estimate of the expected regulatory impact on business for the period between now and 2020.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what are the individual budgets agreed between the Better Regulation Executive and Government departments with regulatory responsibility; and what progress has been made against those targets to date.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Deregulatory budgets were agreed between Ministers for a number of departments with regulatory responsibility during the 2015-17 Parliament. The Government has not yet decided what approach it will take to deliver better regulation during the current Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the proportion of the total reduction in regulatory costs on business since 2015 that has resulted from the introduction of the 5p charge on plastic bags.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has not yet published a final record of its total regulatory impact on business for the 2015-17 Parliament. Therefore it is not yet possible to calculate the savings from the introduction of the 5p charge on plastic bags as a proportion of the total reduction in regulatory costs on business.