The £13bn spent by the previous government on assessing the impact of proposed new policies does not provide value for money, according to spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO).
The NAO reports today that the impact assessments used to assess the cost and need for new legislation, "do not yet provide a sound basis" for assessing the relative merits of different policy proposals.
It says further improvement in the quality and use of impact assessments is needed, to achieve value for money.
In 2008-09, the annual cost of impact assessments was £13bn, but the benefits added up to £24bn, according to the watchdog, whose reports says there are still wide variations between different impact assessments.
It says 18% of the sample assessed did not provide sufficient evidence that the right conclusion had been reached. In fact, only 28% of impact assessments full met "reasonable quality standards".
The report will provide fuel for those in the new government keen to pounce on examples of "unnecessary bureaucracy".
The business minister Mark Prisk has already commented that the report highlights the "pressing need for a change of mindset" when it comes to regulation.
Prisk says the new reducing regulation committee will expect to see "all other policy options" considered before more red tape is introduced. "Impact assessments will now play a greater role in the policy-making process," he stated, "and will be required to provide robust and convincing evidence that any new laws and regulations being proposed are beneficial to the country".
Prisk did not say how he proposed to effect this improvement in impact assessments, nor how to get round the conundrum highlighted in the report, with complaints from policy staff that the Better Regulation Executive provides "insufficient guidance" on how much analysis to carry out in some cases, while the executive says it is for departments to justify the level of analysis they carry out.
The NAO report says departments have increased the resources they allocate to preparing impact assessments and that some assessments have resulted in changes to policy development. But they are not widely liked or appreciated - only half of policy staff felt they were useful in the policy process.
The report also noted a number of technical deficiencies in impact assessment documents, in recording costs and in presenting costs and benefits.
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
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