Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33974, what regard she has given to to Section 14 of the Cabinet Office publication, Guide to making legislation, when determining the relative timing of issuing the impact assessment and the closure of the consultation on further reforms to the Capacity Market.

Section 14 of the Cabinet Office ‘Guide to making legislation’ states that Impact Assessments are generally required for all UK Government interventions of a regulatory nature. The latest version of the ‘Better Regulation Framework Manual’, in its definition of “Regulation”, clarifies that Regulation does not include tax and spending decisions.

The Capacity Market, and the proposals outlined in the consultation on further reforms to the Capacity Market, is classified as ‘Tax and Spend’. Therefore Section 14 does not apply to this policy and a consultation stage Impact Assessment is not needed. The Government will, however, publish a final Impact Assessment alongside its response to the recent consultation.