The Government is encouraging companies to partake in its ‘Red Tape Challenge’ – a two week event where businesses start to dismantle some of the barriers holding them back from growing.
Businesses are being invited to tell the Government through a dedicated website which regulations are justified and which are not. Once businesses have made their contribution, the Government has committed to working out within three months which regulations will be kept and why. Crucially, the default presumption will be that regulations that cannot be justified will go. If Ministers want to keep them, they will be obliged to make the case for them to stay.
EEF is also lobbying for reduced, simplified and more effective regulation in a number of areas covered by the Red Tape Challenge such as environmental policy, such as the considerable scope for consolidation in waste and packaging regulation.
Similarly, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive has been implemented in the UK through a succession of regulations amending and adding to the provisions of the original European legislation. Consolidating them into a single piece of regulation would make the requirements easier and less time consuming to understand.
EEF’s chief executive Terry Sculoer is to act as the sector champion for manufacturing: “By getting involved in the Red Tape Challenge, companies now have a real opportunity to help turn the tide,” he said.
Scuoler added: “By telling government how regulations are affecting them, how they could be improved and where they should be scrapped, they can help to start dismantling a key barrier to growing their businesses and our economy.”
