News In Focus
26 July 2007
Feel the difference on red tape, minister pledges
The new Minister for Business said yesterday that it would be fair for him to be judged in 12 months' time on whether he had made a difference to the level of regulation sustained by business.
Lord Drayson made the pledge in a newspaper interview following his launch of what he labelled a "dramatic" package of measures to reduce red tape. These include a "root and branch" review of consumer protection law, to look at simplifying the law and rationalising enforcement and to report next spring; and a review of health and safety enforcement to reduce the burden on lower-risk businesses.
The minister also promised that government departments would be required to give businesses and charities at least 12 weeks' notice of new rules, failing which they would have a reasonable defence to any charges of non-compliance.
Lord Drayson claimed that as someone who himself had 20 years' business experience he knew what the burden of regulation meant, and that the government was now "putting teeth behind our intentions".