Business Secretary Vince Cable has said the UK Government will launch a study of how business regulation is imposed. Cable announced measures to support supply chains and ease the burden of regulation on commercial property SMEs.
Starting from next month, the Department for Business will begin to look at regulatory implementation in three sectors. The chemicals industry, small-scale food manufacturing, and voluntary events will be first out. The review will then spread to other areas of commercial property business.
Speaking at the Federation of Small Business annual conference in Scarborough, Dr Cable set out the practical steps the Government is taking to support commercial property SMEs and increase business investment and cut red tape. These include: The £125 million Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative and A new ‘Focus on Enforcement’ campaign to recognise where inappropriate or unnecessary enforcement of regulation is holding back companies.
The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative has been created to support the present supply chain grow, succeed in world class standards and encourage key new suppliers to come and manufacture in the UK.
The initiative will be run by Birmingham City Council and will provide grants and loans to successful projects representative real ambition to create internationally competitive supply chains.
The funding can support a combination of investment in associate R&D, capital equipment, and training and skills in acknowledgment of the flexibility needed to overcome the barriers that suppliers and supply chains can face.
The Focus on Enforcement campaign was also launched by Vince Cable which asks commercial property businesses to share their experiences by way of a new website called Focus on Enforcement. Companies will be requested to inform the Government where enforcement can be improved, reduced or done in a different way and to realise and celebrate where it works well, so other commercial property businesses can learn from it. The Government will pick the best ideas for change and look promptly at how the Government can improve the experience of regulatory implementation in those business areas.
Cable explained that the study would look at all national supervisory bodies, and local authorities. He said: “In addition to cutting the volume of regulation, we also need to improve the way it is enforced, because we understand that it can be just as burdensome as the rules themselves.
“In particular, we have heard a lot about the frustrations of dealing with poor coordination between different regulatory authorities, so that rather than being left to run your business you are having to juggle inspections and requests from different bodies.”
He further added: “And we heard accounts of being given inconsistent advice, or the feeling that regulators don’t always make enough of a distinction between businesses that try their hardest to comply with the law, but don’t always get it right every time, and those that are real cowboys.”
The UK’s regulatory bodies range from the Office of Communications (Ofcom) to the Advertising Standards Authority and the Financial Services Authority.
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