On 29 November 2021, the PRA issued Discussion Paper 3/21 ‘The PRA Rulebook website: Planned updates’ (DP3/21).
In DP3/21 the PRA sets out its plans for the next iteration of the PRA Rulebook website, as well as possible future changes on a longer timeframe.
In its Business Plan for 2021/22, the PRA mentioned that it was considering its approach to policymaking in light of Brexit and, subject to Parliament’s further decisions in this area, the Future Regulatory Framework review led by HM Treasury. As part of its commitment to making its policies as accessible as possible, the PRA is reviewing the Rulebook website to ensure that PRA rules, Supervisory Statements and Statements of Policy are presented in a way that Rulebook users have easy access to and can understand.
The updates that the PRA expects to make in the next iteration of the Rulebook (by Q4 2023) include:
- Digitised versions of Supervisory Statements and Statements of Policy. In time, these would have similar functionality, such as ‘time-travel’, as for rules that are made and in force at a given date.
- Rulebook content to be available in a basic machine-readable format that can be more easily accessed and used by third-party applications.
- Updated links to related documents in the updated Rulebook platform. This update is intended to provide easier access to the material that contains rules, Supervisory Statements, and Statements of Policy, by linking to Consultation Papers, Policy Statements, and PRA legal instruments.
- Making the Rulebook compliant with web content accessibility guideline version 2.1 Level AA.
- Making the ‘time-travel’ function easier to use by showing a visual timeline of the dates when a part or chapter has changed.
DP3/21 focuses only on the website platform. It does not focus on the policy content or policy making approach, on which more information will follow at a later date.
The deadline for comments on DP3/21 is 28 February 2022.
