Ministerial Sign-Off and Publication of the full RIA

Whether the chosen option is regulatory or an alternative to regulation, the Minister must sign off the full RIA. Where a policy is shared across two or more departments, it will normally be the lead Minister who is responsible for signing off the RIA.

Policy makers should note that from April 2004 it is mandatory that all final RIAs assessing impacts solely on the public service are signed-off by the responsible Minister. For independent bodies that do not report to the Minister of the sponsoring department, the senior official who has delegated authority from the Minister and is accountable to the Public Accounts Committee should undertake this function and publish as detailed above.

All RIAs should also give a contact point for enquiries and comments. This should consist of a name, address, telephone number and email address.

All final RIAs should use the following wording in the Ministerial declaration:
“ I have read the Regulatory Impact Assessment and I am satisfied that the benefits justify the costs

Signed by the responsible Minister

………………………………………….

Date ……………………………………

Contact points: Name, unit or branch. Department address, telephone number and email address.”

The RIA becomes a final RIA once it is signed by the Minister. You will need to arrange for it to be placed in the libraries of both Houses when the regulation or legislation is presented to Parliament by sending:

You can ring the Deposited Papers Clerk on 020 7219 2004 or email queries to
hclibrary@parliament.uk

Publication

RIAs are not formally published. The full RIA should accompany all primary, secondary and European legislation when it is presented to Parliament. The requirements are as follows:

• In the case of Government Bills, including those implementing European Directives, a summary of the RIA forms part of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill. This should be a neutral statement of the costs and benefits and should avoid being an argument or justification of the measure. You should include a reference to where the full RIA can be obtained using the following standard form of words:

“A full RIA of the costs and benefits that this Bill would have is available to the public from …”

• In the case of Statutory Instruments, the Explanatory Note should say that an RIA is available and where it can be obtained.
• In the case of European legislation, an RIA must accompany all Explanatory Memoranda submitted to Parliament. In cases where you are not able to prepare a full RIA in time, you should ensure the Explanatory Memorandum contains the best possible initial assessment and that the RIA follows as quickly as possible.
• In the case of Private Members’ Bills that the Government is planning to support, or is not intending to oppose, you should produce an RIA by the date set down for Second Reading. It is good practice to prepare an RIA for a Private Members’ Bill being opposed, in order to obtain the evidence to justify the objection to the Bill.

When a Bill passes into the Lords (or the Commons if it was introduced in the Lords), you will need to issue another version of the RIA if there have been any significant changes made to the Bill in the Commons.

You should ensure that all full RIAs are available on departmental websites in a clear and accessible manner and linked to the RIU website. If your RIA is not linked to legislation – for example, because it relates to a strategy document or a code of practice – you should publish the RIA on your departmental website along with the relevant document or code of practice.

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