The RPC produces opinions of impact assessments (IAs) to help departments ensure that the evidence and analysis in them is sufficiently robust. We provide an independent opinion to assist final ministerial decision making and parliamentary scrutiny of regulatory proposals. We publish these to assist parliamentarians and to ensure that they are available to external stakeholders. Government departments are expected to submit IAs to the RPC in time for the RPC to issue an opinion before the relevant legislation is laid before Parliament.
The Renters (Reform) Bill was introduced to Parliament (House of Commons) on 17 May 2023. An IA has not been published alongside the Bill.
The IA for the Bill was first submitted on 24 March for RPC scrutiny. The RPC's initial review of the IA, sent to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on 28 April, found that it was not sufficiently robust, and identified areas where improvements should be made. We considered that the points raised would have generated a red-rated opinion, if not addressed adequately. A revised IA was submitted by DLUHC on 16 May and the RPC is currently reviewing this to produce an opinion as soon as possible. The opinion will be made available to the Government and Parliament, and will be published on our website, when our scrutiny has been completed.
