Better Regulation Consultative Committee - Terms of Reference

Purpose

To provide a forum for the discussion of, and consultation on, issues pertaining to the better regulation of legislation and operational procedures for all issues on which HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has responsibility.

  1. To act as a confidential sounding board for proposed policy and operational initiatives for which HMRC is, or will be, responsible, as directed by Treasury Ministers, and as an avenue for discussion of representatives’ own concerns and proposals for change.
  2. To identify better regulation issues arising from current or proposed policies or implementation to suggest solutions and seek to resolve issues.
  3. To act as a first point of contact for members who wish to make representations to other departments on related issues but have been unable to find a suitable contact.

Status

  • Better Regulation Consultative Committee, known as BRCC, will be a Departmental Standing Consultative Committee with the ability to consider issues across the spectrum of HMRC regulation.

Relationship between BRCC, and other consultative groups within HMRC

  1. To prevent duplication of effort, where another consultative or working group within HMRC is considering the same or closely related issues, the BRCC Chair will raise the issue formally with the group’s Chair and request that it be taken forward within the auspices of that group. Where Better Regulation issues remain unresolved in other forums, these issues may be raised and concerns voiced. The BRCC chair will discuss the issues within HMRC and report on progress.
  2. To facilitate the monitoring of issues raised and their progress, an Issues Log is proposed for review at each main BRCC meeting. The issues log will include a brief description of the issue, an owner of the issue and a brief note on progress or resolution.

Membership

  1. BRCC will be chaired by the Head of HMRC Better Regulation Unit (BRU) supported by specialists from within the BRU and HMRC policy and Departmental economist teams.
  2. From time to time representatives from other government departments, particularly HM Treasury, may be invited along to discuss particular issues.
  3. Representatives from member organisations may send one person to BRCC meetings. Where member organisations wish to send more than one representative this should be done with the prior agreement of BRCC secretariat.
  4. Member organisations should advise the BRCC secretariat as far in advance as possible of the name of the representative attending from that member organisation.
  5. There will be no more than [20] member organisations within BRCC. A list of these is attached at Annex A.
  6. Organisations that wish to become member organisations should apply to the BRCC chair.

Agenda

  1. Any organisation represented will be free to propose items for the agenda of BRCC. The Chair of BRCC will determine the agenda for each meeting, taking account of priorities and the relative urgency of different agenda items subject to amendment by the BRCC itself. Items considered in discussion and remitted for further action will be rolled forward for review as appropriate to subsequent agenda.
  2. A copy of the agenda will be sent to members as far in advance of meetings as possible. The agenda, where possible, will include a description of what items on the agenda are to allow members to decide on the relevance of the items, and consult more widely where confidentiality is clearly not an issue.

Confidentiality

  1. It is intended that, within general or specific guidelines set by Ministers, the proceedings of BRCC will be conducted, as far as possible, in a constructive spirit of openness and co-operation. To enable this to happen, the degree of confidentiality appropriate to particular discussions and papers will need to expressed, agreed and observed in advance so that members are clear on what basis they may copy papers and consult further.
  2. In general, however, unless otherwise stated, papers will normally be available for general circulation and discussion among members of the organisations represented, but should not be more widely circulated or quoted publicly.
  3. Papers which are to be treated as personal or confidential will be marked as such and should be handled appropriately. Failure to respect confidentiality will lead to the representative’s membership of the Committee being reviewed by the Chair.

Secretariat

  1. Secretarial support will be provided by HMRC BRU.
  2. Dates and times of meetings will be set as far ahead as possible.
  3. Frequency of meetings: three or four times a year depending on need.
  4. Papers will be circulated as far ahead as possible, normally two weeks where possible and not less than one week before the meeting.

Publicity

  1. The terms of reference of the BRCC together with the membership of the BRCC will be put onto the HMRC web site.
  2. Agreed minutes of meetings will also be publicly made available on the Internet. Any confidential items or other items deemed unsuitable for publication by the BRCC chair will be excluded for publication by the BRCC chair.

Annex A

BRCC member organisations are:

  • Institute of Directors (IOD)
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
  • Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
  • Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT)
  • Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
  • Federation of Small Business (FSB)
  • British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)
  • Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP)
  • Charities Tax Reform Group (CTRG)
  • UK 200 Group
  • Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG)

Members will also be drawn from other government departments, as appropriate. In the first instance, representatives are anticipated from the following:

  • Cabinet Office
  • Small Business Service
  • HM Treasury