The RPC re-appointed as the independent verification body

The RPC is pleased to have been re-appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as the independent verification body (IVB) for the current parliament (from December 2019). We are pleased to continue our role supporting effective regulatory decision making through independent scrutiny of government impact assessments.

The Government have also set a business impact target (BIT) of zero for the current parliament and have carried forward the BIT exclusions and metric (equivalent annual net direct cost to business – EANDCB) from the previous parliament. The opinions that we have issued since this parliament started made clear that, at the time of issue, neither our appointment as the IVB nor the BIT exclusions or metric had been confirmed. We nevertheless verified the BIT status and estimates of the impacts on business on the assumption that these might be confirmed. Now that this is the case, we are content that the BIT status and EANDCB figures set out in opinions issued between 13 December 2019 and 15 December 2020 should be considered as confirmed and formally verified by the RPC as the IVB for the current parliament.