Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee

Recommendation 13

Ninth Report - UK plc Published 24 Mar 2023 Paragraph 49 Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Regulatory Policy Committee should be supported for its work in supporting Parliament in understanding the impact of proposed regulation and we recommend these impact assessments are used much more widely throughout the legislative process. Given the transfer of regulatory oversight from the European Parliament to our Parliament, we recognise the need to ensure that our Parliament finds its way in meeting this new challenge and providing effective scrutiny and oversight of new regulations—both from Government and from regulatory bodies. We draw to the attention of the Liaison Committee of this House the role which select committees can play in this field.

From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Ninth Report - UK plc (HC 1120), paragraph 49, 24 March 2023

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 7 September 2023 (deadline 23 May 2023).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government's response to the UK plc report mostly sets out existing and planned policy on R&D reliefs, skills, regional productivity and regulation, and expressly agrees on engagement with business over regulation.

  • On R&D tax reliefs, the Government says the review is "ongoing" and it "has not yet taken a decision on whether to merge schemes", but "intends to keep open the option of doing so from 2024", with a decision at the next fiscal event.
  • On green skills, the Government points to the Green Jobs Delivery Group, established in 2022, and says Government and industry will create a Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan "for publication in 2024".
  • On impact assessments, the Government is "committed" to publishing them "where appropriate" and says a reformed Better Regulation Framework will launch "later this summer". Partnerships between industry and Government on specific regulations "should be considered on a case-by-case basis".
  • Asked whether it has an industrial strategy, the Government does not directly answer, but says delivering growth in key sectors is a priority and names five growth sectors identified by the Chancellor.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error