Government urged to act on red tape
A leading business
group has called on the Government to ‘step up’ its efforts to cut red tape and
help smaller firms through the recession.
The Forum of Private
Business (FPB) is urging ministers to prioritise the issue following new
research indicating that regulation costs small enterprises almost £12 billion
every year.
The call comes in the
wake of reports suggesting that the Government may not be ‘pushing through’
plans to reduce the burden of regulation on cash-strapped businesses.
‘As part of a new
department with a broader remit, the Better Regulation Executive (BRE) must
continue to put the smallest businesses at the forefront of its plans to change
the culture of bureaucracy in the
‘Our research shows
that complying with red tape remains one of the major cost burdens facing
smaller businesses, swallowing up valuable time and money that could be used
more profitably elsewhere.’
According to the FPB’s latest Referendum survey, small business employers
devote an average of 37 hours each month to complying with regulations.
The study found that employment law is the
costliest bureaucratic burden (£2.4bn), closely followed by health and safety
administration (£2.1bn).
In a recent post on its
website, the BRE said it is committed to improving regulation in the financial
services sector, although emphasised that the task was ‘not easy’.