HC Deb 08 July 2003 vol 408 cc675-6W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action he is taking to assess the(a) compliance costs and (b) regulatory impact of the White Paper, "The Future of Higher Education" on higher education institutions; and if he will (i) publish such assessments and (ii) subject them to external audit. [123429]

Alan Johnson

Officials in my Department are currently developing a Regulatory Impact Assessment, which will consider the compliance costs and the impact of the proposals in the higher education White Paper on higher education institutions.

The Regulatory Impact Assessment will be published on our website in the summer.

From this year the National Audit Office has a new role in independently evaluating a selection of RIAs, focusing on the quality of analysis, and the thoroughness with which it has been undertaken. The NAO's findings and recommendations of best practice will be fed back to Departments.