| Link(s): | CBA Panel Annual Report AR |
Context
The FCA’s Cost Benefit Analysis Panel has published its Interim Annual Report covering the period May to September 2024, its first five months of operation. This first report sets out the background to the use of cost benefit analysis (CBA) as a standard tool used globally to ensure that policy making is evidence-based, proportionate, and accountable to stakeholders.
Key points to note and next actions
- CBA has been a central part of FCA and PSR policy making for many years.
- Independent, expert bodies that provide feedback on policy making prior to public consultation are a central element of the UK’s public policy architecture.
- The CBA Panel exists to provide such independent, expert review and advice on the FCA’s and PSR’s CBA of proposed policies.
- The report outlines the FCA CBAP’s statutory basis and obligations, and its principles of operation.
- Three main recommendations in relation to the FCA’s use of CBA are deliberately limited and are to be treated as provisional in view of the fact that the Panel has been in operation for less than six months. Those recommendations are:
- Using CBA at earlier and later stages of the FCA’s policy development cycle
- Expanding the scope of CBA in the FCA’s appraisal of proposed policy
- Clarifying how the FCA’s use of CBA relates to its statutory objectives