§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his Department's Regulatory Impact Assessment procedure; and how many RIAs have been reviewed in respect of the Department over the last year. [120819]
§ Mr. DarlingA Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) must be completed for all policy proposals, including prospective legislation, which may have a potential impact on businesses, charities or the voluntary sector. It includes details of the arrangements for monitoring and evaluating policy proposals and their impact.
The Scotland Office has no routine programme of policy or legislative measures that would normally lead to an RIA. Exceptionally, the office prepared one RIA, published in February this year, in relation to the Sunday Working (Scotland) Bill, which is currently before Parliament.