§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what percentage of regulatory impact assessments recommended that the regulatory instruments under examination should not proceed in the last year for which figures are available; [160123]
(2) how many regulatory instruments have failed to proceed following the negative conclusion of the regulatory impact assessments in each year since 2000. [160143]
§ Mr. AlexanderI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) on 2 February 2004,Official Report,column 715W.
§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what estimate he has made of the number of regulatory impact assessments conducted in 2003 which included a statement of what the respective department expected to happen in the absence of regulation; and what guidance his Department has issued on this subject; [160138]
(2) what assessment he has made of the possible effect on the net benefits of regulation of including a do nothing option in regulatory impact assessments; [160137]
(3) how many regulatory impact assessments conducted in 2003 contained a do nothing option. [160136]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe Government are committed to regulating only where necessary and promoting the use of alternatives to regulation. This includes the do nothing option, which provides a useful baseline against which to judge the potential impact of a proposal. As set out in Cabinet Office guidance 'Better Policy Making: A Guide to Regulatory Impact Assessment', Departments are required to consider alternatives as part of the RIA process. RIAs are published and placed in the Libraries of the House.
§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the finding in the Evaluation of Regulatory Impact Assessments Compendium Report 2003–04, published 1515W by the National Audit Office, that none of the sample regulatory impact assessments concluded that the costs to small business would be disproportionate. [160139]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe Government welcome the National Audit Office's (NAO) Compendium Report on the Evaluation of Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA), and is currently in the process of looking at the findings and recommendations of the report.