§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many instances of gold plating have been brought to the attention of the Cabinet Office Regulatory Impact Unit, with particular reference to the Cabinet Office Transposition Guide, 2003, page 17 [168646]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe Government's policy is to transpose Directives so as to achieve the objects of the European measure, on time and in accordance with other UK policy goals, including minimising the burden on business. It is Government policy not to over-implement ("gold-plate") directives unless there are exceptional reasons for doing so.
The Regulatory Impact Unit has regular discussions with departments concerning policy development, including, on occasion, possible over-implementation. Records of the number of times such discussions have taken place are not available. Since November 2001, Transposition Notes have normally accompanied all legislation laid before Parliament that transposes any European directive. These show how all the main elements of the directive have been or will be transposed into UK law.
In accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines, Departments discuss with the Regulatory Impact Unit the range of options that might be included in regulatory impact assessments. These include options that could go beyond the minimum necessary to comply with a European directive, bearing in mind that, particularly where the original directive is unclear, it is not always straightforward to know in advance whether a proposed method of implementation might represent over-or under-implementation.