Whilst the Coalition Government is certainly able to “talk the talk” when it comes to backing business, what we all want to see is hard evidence of those words being turned into action. Whilst attending the British Chambers of Commerce Conference last week the Secretary for Business, Innovation and Skills, Dr Vince Cable MP, identified a couple of instances where the Coalition Government are putting their money where their mouth is. Cable identified a website that has been set up by the Government to give business the opportunity to comment on regulations affecting business. This website is already up and running though is clearly suffering from a lack of publicity. The idea is to identify different sectors and invite input from business on regulations affecting those sectors in order to inform the Government’s thinking on such regulations with the ultimate potential being for them to be scrapped. The website can be found at www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
The retail sector is the current focus of the website and the ongoing schedule for future input is as follows:-
- 6 May Hospitality, food and drink
- 20 May Road transportation
- 2 June Fisheries, marine enterprises and internal waterways
- 16 June Manufacturing
- 23 June Healthy living and social care
- 7 July Media and creative services
- 21 July Utilities and energy
- 4 August Rail and merchant shipping
- 18 August Mining and quarrying
There is also a general section for regulations affecting all businesses.
The obvious risk with this website is that if there are no representations made by business then the Government may use any such lack of response in a negative way against business. Though it is rather surprising that there has not been a good deal of publicity associated with this website to let businesses know that they actually have this opportunity.
A second initiative referred to by Cable was a policy of “one in, one out” for all future regulations. All Government departments seeking to introduce new regulations will be required to identify an existing regulation that will be removed, otherwise they will not be able to introduce the new regulation. This is obviously one to keep an eye on to see how strictly the requirement will be imposed and, even where imposed, how comparable the discontinued regulation is compared to the new regulation in terms of its burden on business. Watch this space!