News - Midlands
Shout out loud
Compile a list of business gripes and you can always be pretty sure what will come near the top of the list. Finding good quality staff, definitely yes. Woeful transport infrastructure, absolutely. A planning regime that runs against business, give that a thumbs down too.
But one catch-all word continues to jostle all other pretenders off the top of the complaints tree - regulation. It refuses to go away, and seems to get ever worse.
Why has the situation continued to deteriorate so? Well, a meddling government must certainly takes much of the blame, but the lack of a co-ordinated response from business itself doesn't help eithe. As a report from the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF) to Tony Blair earlier this year summed up: "All too often complaints from business about red tape are unspecific and provide no real information on which government might act. We need to see a shared commitment between government, business and other stakeholders to work together to reduce regulatory costs through simplification."
It is precisely against this backdrop that the government is finally making efforts which all but the churlish would not at least applaud in part. However much grief it may have given you and your business in the past, you might as well now work with and not against the state.
In particular there is now a minister dedicated to making some headway on the issue. The words poisoned and chalice certainly spring to mind, but the man in question and minister for the Cabinet Office John Hutton is certainly talking a strong game.
During an interview with Insider Hutton was candid, honest and forthright on the issues. A good starting point - and music to business ears - was that he accepted past mistakes. "This is an agenda everyone has aspired to for many years yet there has been a collective failure by successive governments to get on with this agenda and make significant progress with it," he said.
The government now hopes that by listening to business it can help repair some bridges. Hutton himself chose Birmingham as the first of several trips outside London to listen to what business has to say.
Meeting him after his round of meetings Hutton joked that he thought the business community would be "grabbing his throat", but that he had remained unscathed by the experience. "It was a good debate. The over-riding thing that business was saying was that it's time to deliver on this one. Firms are saying to us, "help us', some of this stuff is getting out of control, particularly for small firms where the cost of compliance in time is four or five times higher than for a larger business."
How realistic is it that the government can deliver? Listening to business is one thing, getting past the Whitehall machine to actually get anything tangible done is quite another. Hutton insists that the consultation now ongoing until the end of the year will be digested and acted upon. Asked by Insider what our readers could be doing to help, Hutton was blunt. "Tell us what sucks. Get involved in the whole process, tell us what your problems are. Everyone can agree on the generality of the regulation problem, but what are the specifics?"
Insider wants to play its part in this process too. We want you to contact us and tell us your own personal experiences of chronic regulation and we'll personally put them in Hutton's in-tray.
He admits that there are no easy answers and no quick fix - but insists that business will begin to see the fruits by next year. "Business should start to see the benefit of this by next year. In terms of the administrative burden, people will begin to see a difference," he promised.
Meanwhile, Hutton claims that the government is already tackling the problem in-house alongside the wider consultation process.
"Every department in government is being set targets to reduce their administrative burden and the cost of compliance by up to 25 per cent. The 25 per cent figure is an admission that we can do better and that same 25 per cent translates to 1 per cent of GDP. That's £310bn."
The government has also set out its intention to reduce the overall number of inspectorates from 29 to seven, to lower duplicate requests for information, while it has prepared a regulation simplification plan in every government department to measure and cut down regulatory burdens on business.
"It is a balancing act," added Hutton. "Business can benefit from good regulation in the same way that it can be impeded by bad regulations. We have to weed out the stuff that imposes disproportionate costs."
The words Europe and regulation are never far away from each other and are also liable to bring on minor pulpitations among business owners. Hutton readily accepts that approximately half of the regulatory burden comes from Brussels - but even here claims that unnecessary regulation can be tackled. In particular the UK is using its presidency of the European Union (EU) to drive forward a wider better regulation agenda, resisting unnecessary measures and generating further ideas for simplification of EU law. Critically, it's an agenda that it also wants to ensure is maintained into 2006 and beyond.
Britain's approach to tackling the problem during its presidency has two main strands. The first is strengthening the systems used to check that the benefits of proposed regulations outweigh their costs by setting up an independent body to scrutinise proposals. The second major plank is to simplify and reduce existing red tape.
Hutton told Insider that the draft EU chemicals directive was a prime example where Britain hopes a deregulatory approach can produce financially beneficial results.
Winding up the interview Hutton reiterated that there was no quick fix. "It is easy to change laws, not so easy to change cultures. For that there is no easy fairy dust". That may be so, but if the government are ever to win over a highly sceptical business audience on the regulation issue, then business must start seeing the fruits of this consultation very soon.
But one catch-all word continues to jostle all other pretenders off the top of the complaints tree - regulation. It refuses to go away, and seems to get ever worse.
Why has the situation continued to deteriorate so? Well, a meddling government must certainly takes much of the blame, but the lack of a co-ordinated response from business itself doesn't help eithe. As a report from the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF) to Tony Blair earlier this year summed up: "All too often complaints from business about red tape are unspecific and provide no real information on which government might act. We need to see a shared commitment between government, business and other stakeholders to work together to reduce regulatory costs through simplification."
It is precisely against this backdrop that the government is finally making efforts which all but the churlish would not at least applaud in part. However much grief it may have given you and your business in the past, you might as well now work with and not against the state.
In particular there is now a minister dedicated to making some headway on the issue. The words poisoned and chalice certainly spring to mind, but the man in question and minister for the Cabinet Office John Hutton is certainly talking a strong game.
During an interview with Insider Hutton was candid, honest and forthright on the issues. A good starting point - and music to business ears - was that he accepted past mistakes. "This is an agenda everyone has aspired to for many years yet there has been a collective failure by successive governments to get on with this agenda and make significant progress with it," he said.
The government now hopes that by listening to business it can help repair some bridges. Hutton himself chose Birmingham as the first of several trips outside London to listen to what business has to say.
Meeting him after his round of meetings Hutton joked that he thought the business community would be "grabbing his throat", but that he had remained unscathed by the experience. "It was a good debate. The over-riding thing that business was saying was that it's time to deliver on this one. Firms are saying to us, "help us', some of this stuff is getting out of control, particularly for small firms where the cost of compliance in time is four or five times higher than for a larger business."
How realistic is it that the government can deliver? Listening to business is one thing, getting past the Whitehall machine to actually get anything tangible done is quite another. Hutton insists that the consultation now ongoing until the end of the year will be digested and acted upon. Asked by Insider what our readers could be doing to help, Hutton was blunt. "Tell us what sucks. Get involved in the whole process, tell us what your problems are. Everyone can agree on the generality of the regulation problem, but what are the specifics?"
Insider wants to play its part in this process too. We want you to contact us and tell us your own personal experiences of chronic regulation and we'll personally put them in Hutton's in-tray.
He admits that there are no easy answers and no quick fix - but insists that business will begin to see the fruits by next year. "Business should start to see the benefit of this by next year. In terms of the administrative burden, people will begin to see a difference," he promised.
Meanwhile, Hutton claims that the government is already tackling the problem in-house alongside the wider consultation process.
"Every department in government is being set targets to reduce their administrative burden and the cost of compliance by up to 25 per cent. The 25 per cent figure is an admission that we can do better and that same 25 per cent translates to 1 per cent of GDP. That's £310bn."
The government has also set out its intention to reduce the overall number of inspectorates from 29 to seven, to lower duplicate requests for information, while it has prepared a regulation simplification plan in every government department to measure and cut down regulatory burdens on business.
"It is a balancing act," added Hutton. "Business can benefit from good regulation in the same way that it can be impeded by bad regulations. We have to weed out the stuff that imposes disproportionate costs."
The words Europe and regulation are never far away from each other and are also liable to bring on minor pulpitations among business owners. Hutton readily accepts that approximately half of the regulatory burden comes from Brussels - but even here claims that unnecessary regulation can be tackled. In particular the UK is using its presidency of the European Union (EU) to drive forward a wider better regulation agenda, resisting unnecessary measures and generating further ideas for simplification of EU law. Critically, it's an agenda that it also wants to ensure is maintained into 2006 and beyond.
Britain's approach to tackling the problem during its presidency has two main strands. The first is strengthening the systems used to check that the benefits of proposed regulations outweigh their costs by setting up an independent body to scrutinise proposals. The second major plank is to simplify and reduce existing red tape.
Hutton told Insider that the draft EU chemicals directive was a prime example where Britain hopes a deregulatory approach can produce financially beneficial results.
Winding up the interview Hutton reiterated that there was no quick fix. "It is easy to change laws, not so easy to change cultures. For that there is no easy fairy dust". That may be so, but if the government are ever to win over a highly sceptical business audience on the regulation issue, then business must start seeing the fruits of this consultation very soon.