electrical works, and clearer, more consistent guidance on requirements for access to buildings, glazing and protection from falling.
The drive to simplify health and safety requirements continues with the removal of a raft of redundant or unnecessary regulations in areas including celluloid film, shipbuilding and ship repair. Abolishing pointless regulations affecting the sale of goods will free up valuable time for retailers and give more clarity to consumers. The age at which Christmas crackers can be bought is being lowered from 16 to 12 - getting rid of heavy-handed government intervention in the sale of these harmless objects, and promoting greater personal freedom and responsibility. Unnecessary regulations specifying the quantities of heavy metals in pencils, and redundant measures to prevent arsenic getting into food are also being abolished. Product and food safety is now covered by modern legislation, reflecting latest technological knowledge and ensuring comprehensive consumer protection. The minimum consultation required for large-scale redundancies falls today from 90 to 45 days, giving employers greater flexibility to restructure but ensuring that meaningful consultation with staff takes place. Business Minister Michael Fallon said: Setting business free from the restrictions that hold back enterprise is a compulsory step on the road to growth. We’ve listened to firms and taken prompt action where regulation presents barriers - but there is a huge amount still to do. We will quicken the pace by launching a new phase of the Red Tape Challenge this summer, focusing on key areas for growth. And I’m keeping up the pressure across Whitehall so that government always puts business before bureaucracy. As well as cutting the overall burden of regulation, we are sharpening up how rules are enforced. We’ll make sure regulation works in the public interest without stifling law-abiding firms and hampering growth.
A total of 1,500 regulations have now been identified for reform through the Red Tape Challenge - with many more still to come.
Recent measures include reducing accounting requirements for micro businesses, publishing new procedures which could halve the time for medicines to be reclassified from prescription- only to over-the-counter status and reviewing the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing scheme to ensure that it provides more effective protection for holidaymakers.
A full list of reforms which came into effect on Saturday is contained in the Fifth Statement of New Regulation .
GROWING YOUR BUSINESS - A REPORT ON GROWING MICRO BUSINESSES
13 May 2013
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has published the second of Lord Young’s which highlights the growing importance of micro-businesses and makes recommendations of help that government could provide to help micro-businesses to grow. Over 95% of businesses employ less than 10 employees and Lord Young’s second report Growing Your Business – A Reporting on Growing Micro Businesses includes a recommendation to remove the age cap – currently set at 30 years old – for the Government’s Start-Up loan scheme, so that all entrepreneurs that would otherwise struggle to secure the necessary finance and support can benefit.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 37 of 519
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