5  Preparing the RIS

The RIS is a government agency document, as distinct from a Cabinet paper which is a Minister's document. The RIS provides a summary of the agency's best advice to their Minister and to Cabinet on the problem definition, objectives, identification and analysis of the full range of practical options, and information on implementation arrangements. By contrast, the Cabinet paper presents the Minister's advice or recommendation to Cabinet.

The purpose of the RIS is to:

• provide the basis for consultation with stakeholders, and with other government agencies
• provide the basis for engagement with Ministers and therefore helping to inform and influence the policy discussion and Ministers' decisions
• inform Cabinet about the range of feasible options and the benefits, costs and risks of the preferred option(s), and
• enhance transparency and accountability for decision making through public disclosure once decisions are taken.

The RIS should provide an objective, balanced presentation of the analysis of impacts, with any conclusions reached by the agency explained and justified.

It should be prepared before the Cabinet paper, so that it informs the development of the preferred option and hence the Ministerial recommendations in the Cabinet paper. It should provide a reference point from which the Cabinet paper is developed, thus avoiding the need for a lengthy Cabinet paper and repetition between the two documents.

5.1 Disclosure statement

The agency is required to complete a disclosure statement on the front of the RIS, which:

• discloses information to highlight any key gaps, assumptions, dependencies and significant constraints, caveats or uncertainties in the analysis
• indicates whether any of the policy options are likely to have effects which may not align with the commitments in the Government Statement on Regulation, and
• is signed by the person with responsibility for the production of the RIS.

The disclosure statement should be completed before the RIS is submitted for quality assurance, and included with the RIS that is provided to the reviewer.

5.2 Required information

The RIS must contain the following information:

• agency disclosure statement
• description of existing arrangements and the status quo
• problem definition
• objectives
• regulatory impact analysis - identification of the full range of feasible options, and analysis of the costs, benefits and risks of each option
• consultation
• conclusions and recommendations
• implementation issues, including risks, and
• arrangements for monitoring, evaluation and review.

A recommended option may be identified and discussed, but this is optional. The required information, and a suggested template, is set out in more detail in Annex 2.

5.3 RISs for in-principle or intermediate policy decisions

As noted in When do the RIA requirements apply?, the RIA requirements apply when in-principle or intermediate policy decisions are taken by Cabinet. This is particularly important when options are narrowed down (eg, particular options are selected for further work, and/or options are removed from consideration). At these points, it may not be possible to prepare a comprehensive RIS. Instead, a draft or interim RIS may be prepared, that provides, to the extent possible, the following information:

• agency disclosure statement
• description of existing arrangements and the status quo
• problem definition
• objectives, and
• options - the full range of feasible options, with an indication as to the likely nature and size of impacts associated with each. The implications (including any risks) of ruling out particular options that appear to be feasible should be discussed.

Often, the details of how a regulatory option will be implemented are not developed until after the high-level policy decisions have been taken. In these cases, it will be important that the RIS identifies the type of implementation issues that will need to be worked through and highlights any risks these may pose (eg, when the success of a regulation will rely on careful detailed design).

Draft or interim RISs may need to be updated for subsequent Cabinet decisions, to reflect the results of further analysis and any additional or new information that is available.

When a series of policy decisions is taken, it can be useful to refer to the RISs that were prepared for previous decisions. The nature of the earlier decisions should be explained, and URLs to the previous RISs provided. This background information can be presented in the status quo section, or as a separate introductory section.

5.4 Consultation and circulation

As discussed above in Consultation, the draft RIS should be circulated for comment to relevant government agencies. Ideally, this should be done before the Cabinet paper is prepared. Otherwise it must be circulated with the draft Cabinet paper. It must also be included with draft Cabinet papers when they are submitted to Officials' Committees.