In October 2009, the Government published the first Total Benefit/Cost ratio of New Regulations, for all legislation that received Royal Assent or was made by Parliament in the previous financial year, 2008-09. This is summarised in the following table:
Measure Quantified equivalent annual benefits (£ billion) Quantified equivalent annual costs (£ billion) Ratio of quantified benefits to costs (rounded) The Pensions Act 2008 9.95 9.95 1.00 Primary Legislation 3.13 1.11 2.82 Secondary Legislation 11.20 2.01 5.57 Total 24.28 13.07 1.85
These data were calculated from information provided in published Impact Assessments (IAs) and includes all costs and benefits, not only those to business.
Nationwide data for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Government do not collate data about regulation such as road closure orders that affect business on a purely local basis. It also does not hold data on national regulation at local authority or constituency level.