Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015

23 Duty on Secretary of State to publish reports

(1) The Secretary of State must publish a report in respect of each reporting period during the relevant period.

(2) The report must assess the economic impact on business activities of the qualifying regulatory provisions which have come into force or ceased to be in force during the reporting period.

(3) The report must include—

(a) a list of all the qualifying regulatory provisions which have come into force or ceased to be in force during the reporting period,

(b) an assessment of the economic impact on business activities of each of the qualifying regulatory provisions falling within paragraph (a) made by reference to the methodology published under section 21(3)(b) (but see section 24(2)),

(c) an assessment of the aggregate economic impact on business activities of all of the qualifying regulatory provisions falling within paragraph (a),

(d) if there have been preceding reporting periods during the relevant period, an assessment of the aggregate economic impact on business activities of all of the qualifying regulatory provisions which have come into force or ceased to be in force during the reporting period in question and all of the preceding reporting periods,

(e) an assessment of the contribution of the actions taken by each Government department to the aggregate economic impact mentioned in paragraphs (c) and (d), and

(f) a list of all the regulatory provisions (as defined in section 22(3)) which have come into force or ceased to be in force during the reporting period which do not fall within paragraph (a).

(4) The report must describe the actions taken by Government departments to mitigate any disproportionate economic impact on activities carried on by smaller scale businesses or voluntary or community bodies of regulatory provisions (as defined in section 22(3)) which have come into force during the reporting period.

(5) Subsection (6) applies in respect of regulatory provisions (as defined in section 22(3)) which—

(a) have come into force during the reporting period, and

(b) implement an EU obligation or any other international obligation of the United Kingdom.

(6) The report must include—

(a) a description of any provision made in the provisions in question which goes beyond the minimum provision necessary for implementing the obligation, and

(b) the reasons for that provision.

(7) Each of the following is a reporting period—

(a) the period beginning with the relevant day and ending at the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the commencement of the Parliament,

(b) the next successive period of 12 months,

(c) the next successive period of 12 months,

(d) the next successive period of 12 months, and

(e) the period which begins at the end of the period mentioned in paragraph (d) and ends at the end of the relevant period.

(8) But subsection (9) applies if an early parliamentary general election is to take place in accordance with section 2 of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 during a reporting period mentioned in any of subsection (7)(b) to (d) (the “election reporting period”).

(9) Subsection (7) has effect as if—

(a) any provision relating to the election reporting period and any subsequent reporting periods mentioned in paragraph (c) or (d) were omitted, and

(b) paragraph (e) referred to the period which begins at the beginning of the election reporting period and ends at the end of the relevant period.

(10) A report must be published—

(a) no later than one month after the end of the reporting period, if the report is in respect of a reporting period mentioned in any of subsection (7)(a) to (d);

(b) before the dissolution of Parliament, if the report is in respect of a reporting period mentioned in subsection (7)(e).

(11) Where a report is in respect of a reporting period mentioned in subsection (7)(e), the references to qualifying regulatory provisions or regulatory provisions which have come into force or ceased to be in force during the reporting period include qualifying regulatory provisions or regulatory provisions which are expected to come into force or to cease to be in force during that reporting period.

(12) The Secretary of State must lay any report before Parliament.