Annex 5.3 Illustrative QA statements
This section provides some examples of the sort of text that illustrate to Cabinet the independent assessment of RIA quality. Cabinet papers may relate to seeking in-principle or final policy decisions, or decisions to narrow down options for consultation. Formal independent QA of the RIS (and underlying RIA) is required for these papers.
Papers may alternatively seek agreement to release consultation material before options have been narrowed - although a preferred option may be emerging through the agency's analysis. While formal QA is not required for these consultation-stage Cabinet papers, independent review (either from within or external to the agency) is encouraged. A statement by the agency about the independent reviewer's opinion about the quality of the RIA is therefore encouraged, but not expressly required.
Discussion Document - Possible RIA statements for Cabinet papers
The RIA requirements apply to discussion documents that contain options that may lead to legislative or regulatory change. While there is no mandated QA requirement for discussion documents (and so there is no formal requirement for a QA statement in the associated Cabinet paper), it is desirable that QA is provided on draft discussion documents.
QA, and a comment about the quality of the RIA contained in a consultation material, increases the likelihood that a policy project will meet the RIA consultation requirements at the RIS stage. It provides the basis for a good quality RIS at the end of the policy process.
Discussion document appropriately contains the elements of a RIA
While there is no formal requirement to carry out an independent assessment of discussion documents, the [name of Agency] 's RIA Panel has nonetheless provided independent quality assurance on the discussion document and considers that it appropriately incorporates the RIA elements.
A Regulatory Impact Statement will be prepared when Cabinet is invited to make final decisions in relation to these [options/proposals].
Discussion document does not appropriately contain the elements of a RIA (option A)
The Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) requirements apply to this policy work.
While there is no formal requirement to carry out an independent assessment of discussion documents, the [name of Agency]'s RIA Panel has nonetheless provided independent quality assurance on the discussion document and considers that it does not appropriately incorporate the RIA elements.
This is because [eg, not clear what the problem is, policy objectives are unclear, alternative options not presented, not clear how the proposed options will address the problem, etc].
This could be mitigated through [additional meetings with stakeholders, further research, etc].
A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) will be prepared when Cabinet is invited to make final decisions in relation to these [options/proposals]. However, there is a risk that the RIS might not fully meet the RIA requirements because one of the assessment criteria is the quality of consultation.
Discussion document does not appropriately contain the elements of a RIA (option B)
There may be cases where an independent party (such as an agency QA panel) was unable to review the final version of the discussion document. This may occur because a Minister was still making changes or because the document was not provided for an independent review.
The Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) requirements apply to this policy work.
There is no formal requirement to carry out an independent assessment of discussion documents.
A Regulatory Impact Statement will be prepared when Cabinet is invited to make final decisions in relation to these [options/proposals].
Decision-stage RISs - Example RIA statements for Cabinet papers
Formal assessment of the final RIS is a mandatory requirement and represents the reviewer's core role. This applies to the RIS for final policy decisions, as well as RISs that are to be submitted to Cabinet to support any in principle or intermediate policy decisions.
QA statements for interim RISs will need to be tailored to the circumstances, taking into account the stage of policy development, the nature of the decision being sought, and the level of analysis possible. At early stages of the policy process, it may not be feasible to prepare a comprehensive RIS, so the quality assurance will need to reflect these constraints.
Partially meets
The Manager, [name of Team] in the [name of Agency] has reviewed the RIS prepared by the [name of Agency] and associated supporting material, and considers that the information and analysis summarised in the RIS partially meets the quality assurance criteria.
In light of the constraints on the policy development process that are identified in the Agency Disclosure Statement, the reviewer considers that the information in the RIS is as complete as could be expected and identifies the main risks and uncertainties.
However the RIS does not provide evidence of the stated problem or convincing argumentation for the preferred option, so the need for the proposed regulation is not clear.
The [name of Agency]'s independent RIS review panel has reviewed the RIS prepared jointly by the [name of Agency] and the [name of contributing Agency], and considers that the information and analysis summarised in the RIS partially meets the quality assurance criteria. While the analysis is largely complete, the RIA consultation requirements have not been met as there has not been public consultation on the specific proposals set out in the RIS.
The Chief Advisor, [name of Team] in the [name of Agency] has reviewed the RIS prepared by the Ministry of Innovation and associated supporting material, and considers that the information and analysis summarised in the RIS partially meets the quality assurance criteria. The information in the RIS is as complete as could be expected given the timeframes for policy development. However, while the risks of the preferred option have been identified, ideally analysis on the nature of these risks (including how they would manifest) and how they can be addressed or managed, would be undertaken before decisions are taken.
Does not meet
The [name of Agency]'s RIA review panel has reviewed the RIS prepared by the [name of Agency] and considers that the information and analysis summarised in the RIS does not meet the quality assurance criteria, for the following reasons:
- the RIS does not identify or assess of the full range of feasible options, including non-regulatory options
- the options identified in the RIS are not assessed against the stated objectives, and
- there has been no consultation with affected stakeholders.
The Manager, [name of Team] has reviewed the RIS prepared by the [name of Agency] and considers that the information and analysis summarised in the RIS does not meet the quality assurance criteria, for the following reasons:
- the RIS provides no evidence of the stated problem, and
- the RIS provides no information on how the proposals will be implemented, including how detailed regulatory design choices may influence the overall effectiveness of the changes.
