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 Minimum Service Legislation for Rail Statutory Instrument (SI) was introduced into Parliament (House of Commons) on 7 November 2023. An IA has not been published alongside the SI.
The IA for the SI was first submitted on 12 October for RPC scrutiny. The RPC's initial review of the IA, sent to the Department for Transport (DfT) on 1 November, 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 DfT on 7 November (the same day as the legislation was introduced into Parliament). The RPC is currently reviewing this and will produce an opinion as soon as possible. Our opinion will be made available to Government and Parliament and published on our website as soon as it is complete.
