Cutting business regulation

Gordon Brown has pledged to push ahead with a drive to ease the burden of regulation on Britain's businesses.

 

Responding to the announcement, businesses have welcomed the reforms in principle, but warned that they must be properly implemented.

 

Ministers are promising a new law in this parliamentary session to streamline 29 regulators into just seven bodies.

 

A second bill next session will be used to remove further redundant regulations.

 

Opposition Response: The Conservatives

 

Responding to the government's announcement today that it intends to reduce business regulation, shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "Every year Gordon Brown promises to cut red tape on business and every year he increases it. British businesses saddled with £40bn of extra regulation under Labour will be very sceptical at his claim that he's turned over a new leaf.

 

“So while some of the proposals he's put forward are welcome, indeed many come straight from the Conservative manifesto, we will see whether anything in reality actually happens. The real test will be if we see a year by year reduction in government regulation."

 

Stakeholder Response: The British Retail Consortium

 

 

 

"The BRC welcomes the Chancellor's Better Regulation Action Plan; any move towards reducing regulation and cutting out unnecessary inspection are to be commended.

 

"While we applaud the Government's determination to press ahead with implementing the Hampton report, we must also recognise that moving to a risk-based approach to inspection will require a cultural change on the part of enforcement officials at local level. We should therefore learn some valuable lessons from the pilot projects with Bexley and Warwickshire, led by Gerry Murphy, CEO of Kingfisher PLC, which are designed to put the new approach into effect at the grassroots.

 

"The BRC continues to urge the full and speedy implementation of the BRTF report 'Less is More' as a sensible approach; recognising that excessive regulation and red tape are damaging business.

 

"We look to the new Consumer and Trading Standards Agency to improve standards and consistency across the business sector."

 

 

 

Stakeholder Response: Institute of Directors 

 

 

Welcoming today's announcement by the chancellor of his intentions to cut business red tape, the Institute of Directors (IoD) called for a complete culture change across Whitehall.

 

The IoD said that its members would be able to supply plenty of candidates for the government's cull of regulations, but that a more root-and-branch approach was required.

 

James Walsh, Head of Regulatory Affairs at the IoD, said: "The chancellor should be using an axe rather than a scalpel as he sets about his task of cutting up red tape. The battle against over-regulation must be about much more than crossing a few items off the statute books.

 

"We need a fundamental culture change across the whole government machine. Regulators and civil servants need to focus on what they can do to boost our enterprise culture. That means a completely new set of priorities,  with regulation used only as a last resort."

 

James Walsh also stressed that the government's plans must be swiftly turned into practical action: "This is the latest in a long line of government commitments to 'get tough' on red tape. Every time the commitments get bigger. That is welcome. But the time for commitments is now over. We need action."

 

Stakeholder Response: The Forum of Private Business

 

 

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) said Gordon Brown's pledge to streamline 29 regulatory bodies into just nine and produce a bill in the next parliamentary session to remove redundant regulations is a "significant step in the right direction".

 

However the FPB's chief executive Nick Goulding said the chancellor's commitment to slash red tape had to be matched in all government departments.

 

"Small businesses have heard lofty promises to slash red tape before but there has never been the final clinching delivery,' he said.

 

"The promises have been moonshine. Government departments have ignored red tape pledges and failed to conduct small business impact assessments before imposing legislation. The malignant spread of red tape and regulation must be addressed across Whitehall - which has a cultural resistance to deregulation. For example the FPB would ask that the DTI's promise to slash more than £1bn of red tape over five years is held to account. We need clear criteria so we can assess what, where, when and how it is going to achieve this aim."