The Government has launched a new initiative called the “Cutting Red Tape Programme” which aims to get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy and is asking the country’s businesses to get involved. It intends to shine a light on out of date legislation and confusing implementation of it, to help reduce barriers to growth and productivity. This programme follows the previously successful “Red Tape Challenge” and “Business Focus on Enforcement” which resulted in a significant number of regulations being scrapped or improved, including:
- Over 2,400 regulations scrapped through the Red Tape Challenge
- Saving home builders and councils around £100m by reducing 100s of locally applied housing standards to 5 national standards
- £90m annual savings to business from Defra reducing environmental guidance by over 80%
- Businesses with good records have had fire safety inspections reduced from 6 hours to 45 minutes, allowing managers to quickly get back to their day job.
- Childcare providers now have to read 33 pages of need to know guidance instead of wading through over 1,100 pages.
Now it’s your chance to have your say
The Government wants you to get in touch with your thoughts on how and where things do not work and have your support to make them work better. The project is focussing on 4 key sectors: Energy, Care, Waste, Mineral Extraction and Agriculture, so if your business falls into one of these sectors, why not let your voice be heard. Other sectors are aiming to be included at a later date.
What you need to do
- Visit the “Cutting Red Tape” website at https://cutting-red-tape.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ where you can find more details and submit your comments
- Follow @CutRedTapeUK and take part in active discussion on Twitter, remembering to use #cutredtape
- Encourage discussion about regulatory issues and share feedback through your newsletters or forums
The Government will take the Key findings to shape an action plan and reform programme to be taken forward by departments and regulators.
Our professional consultants have already been talking to our clients about some of the issues they feel could do with improvement and we will be submitting our comments over the coming weeks.
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