Independent Verification Body

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade (Sajid Javid)]

I am pleased to announce the appointment of the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) as the independent verification body that will carry out the statutory obligations in relation to the business impact target set out in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (the Act). The appointment will be for this parliamentary session.

The Act requires an independent body to be appointed to verify the assessments of economic impact in respect of all qualifying regulatory provisions within the business impact target (the target), and to verify the regulatory provisions that qualify and do not qualify for the target.

The RPC is advisory non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It provides the Government with external, independent scrutiny of the quality of evidence and analysis supporting new regulatory and deregulatory proposals. The RPC has experience and expertise in assessing the likely economic impact of regulation on business activities that is necessary to meet the statutory requirements of the verification body as set out in the Act.

[HCWS158]