We acknowledge that modifications are taking longer to progress than we would expect, and we are taking steps to address this.
We are working with the DCC to reduce their timescales in providing DCC Assessments, to align with the SLAs introduced into the SEC in November 2018. The DCC is now engaged earlier in the process as business requirements are developed, and we are encouraging a lighter-touch approach at the Preliminary Assessment stage. The Panel will continue to monitor timescales and act as necessary.
Additionally, since the start of the year, several changes have been introduced to the modifications framework in order to streamline the process. The Development Stage, overseen by the Change Sub-Committee, was introduced to ensure the issue or problem identified in a proposal is fully understood, before any consideration of solutions begin. We have also placed greater onus on the Proposer to own their proposals and seek industry comments offline, minimising the number of Working Group meetings needed.
We will be performing a post-implementation review of these changes at the start of next year, where we will assess the impact these changes have had and what else we can do to further improve the framework.