Regulation
The NAO has out two ongoing work programmes on the government’s
better regulation agenda; on Impact Assessments
and on the Administrative Burdens Reduction
programme. We have also completed some work with the Better
Regulation Executive in the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills on regulators’ success in implementing the recommendations
of the Hampton Report.
Impact Assessments
Each time there is a new regulation (or other
intervention by government) that affects the public, private or
voluntary sectors, the department that introduces it has to produce
an Impact Assessment on the costs and benefits of the regulation
(including the cost to the people implementing it). We assess the
quality and use of Impact Assessments by government departments.
Further information on impact assessments is available from the
Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Impact Assessment links:
Administrative Burdens Reduction
We also audit the Administrative burdens
reduction programme. The Government has committed to reducing by
£3.5 billion the Administrative burden to business from complying
with regulation by 2010. We produce reports on its progress.
More information on the programme is available from the
BIS website.
As part of this work, we carry out an annual survey of businesses
to find out about their perceptions of regulation, and whether
burdens are reducing. The results of this survey are published with
our report: Complying with regulation -
business perceptions survey 2009
Administrative Burdens Reduction
links:
Hampton Review of Regulators
In Budget 2004, the Government commissioned
Philip Hampton to review the inspection and enforcement work of 63
national regulators, as well as the 203 trading standards offices
and 408 environmental health offices in English, Scottish and Welsh
local authorities. The final report was published in March 2005 and
made several recommendations for improving the regulatory framework
in the UK. It is available on the HM Treasury
website.
In November 2006 the Chancellor invited the
NAO and the Better Regulation Executive to jointly examine the
success of five major regulators, The Financial Services Authority,
the Food Standards Agency, The Environment Agency, The Health and
Safety Executive, and The Office of Fair Trading, in implementing
the recommendations of the Hampton Report. The individual reports
were published in Spring 2008, and a compendium report was
published in July 2008. The NAO-BRE methodology assessed the
regulators against six areas:
- Design of regulation
- Advice and Guidance
- Data requests
- Inspections
- Sanctions
- Focus on outcomes
The reports and our methodology are available
by clicking on the links below:
Since the reports above were published, the Better Regulation
Executive has undertaken Hampton Implementation Reviews of other
regulators. The review teams for the following seven reviews
included a member from the NAO: