Crime and Policing Bill

Written evidence submitted to the House of Commons Committee on the Crime and Policing Bill by the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) (CPB09)

The RPC was formed in 2009 as an independent ad hoc advisory body (now an NDPB) to provide the Government with advice on the quality of the analysis and evidence supporting new regulation.  Its purpose is to provide scrutiny of the evidence and analysis underpinning new regulatory proposals, including different policy options, while not commenting on government policy.  It helps to ensure that regulation is made for the right reasons and is proportionate to the risk and scale of the problem being addressed.

 

This submission relates to the RPC’s independent scrutiny of impact assessments (IAs) relating to the Crime and Policing Bill introduced to Parliament on 25 February.  The Home Office, rather than submitting to the RPC a single IA covering the whole Bill, submitted separate IAs relating to individual parts of the Bill that have an impact on business.  The RPC has issued an opinion on an IA for one such measure and is currently considering another.  The IAs have not, however, been published by the department even though the Bill is scheduled to commence its committee stage (HC) on 27 March.  When they are published and when RPC scrutiny of them has been completed, we will make our opinions available to Parliament and publish them on our website. We will provide the PBC with a copy of each at that point – if the Committee is still considering the Bill.  Separately, two Ministry of Justice IAs have been published alongside the Bill.  RPC scrutiny of these is not required as the relevant proposals do not regulate business activity and are, therefore, not in scope of the Better Regulation Framework.

The RPC published a statement about this on 10 March, and considers that it may be of interest to the PBC.

March 2025