GovWire

This opinion coversthe impact assessment (IA) for the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. As previously noted on our website, the RPC received theIA on 2nd February, several weeks after the Bill had been introduced to Parliament. We worked hard to publish our opinion as soon as possible, to assist parliamentary scrutiny as the Bill continues passage through the House of Lords. The RPC found that the IA is not-fit-for-purpose and, therefore Red rated.

The Bill will provide powers to introduce minimum service levels during strikes across a range of prospective sectors, with those levels to be set through secondary legislation. Our red-rating reflects the insufficient assessment of the impacts of the Bill on small and micro businesses as required by the better regulation framework. As is our normal practice, we also offer comments on how we think other aspects of the IAs might be improved.

As the opinion sets out, we expect the Government to produce further IAs, for the secondary legislation enabled by the Bill. We hope that the comments in our opinion will assist with the preparation of those IAs, to ensure they are compliant with requirements set out in the BRF. The shortened timescale meant that we were not able to issue an Initial Review Notice period which might have allowed the department (originally BEIS, now DBT) to improve the IA and resubmit it in the hope of receiving a green rating ahead of publication.