§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what arrangements have been made to publish compliance cost assessments to show the cost impact on business of complying with proposals for legislation.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonIt has been the Government's standard practice since 1 April to prepare and publish compliance cost assessments (CCA) for all legislative proposals which impact on business. We have now agreed formal procedures with the House authorities for doing so as follows
In the case of primary legislation the CCA will form part of the explanatory memorandum to the Bill.In the case of statutory instruments laid in draft before the House the CCA will form part of the published text of the draft instrument as a separate annex.In the case of statutory instruments made without having been laid in draft the CCA will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses when the instrument is laid after having been made and a note that a CCA is available and where it can be obtained from included in the explanatory note.In the case of private Members' Bills, where the Government consider it is appropriate to prepare a CCA it will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.In the case of private Bills the Government are still considering how the system can be extended to such Bills.