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.
