The Red Tape Challenge
Good regulation is a good thing. It protects consumers, employees and the environment, it helps build a more fair society and can even save lives. But over the years, regulations – and the inspections and bureaucracy that go with them – have piled up and up. This has hurt business, doing real damage to our economy. And it’s done harm to our society too. When people are confronted by a raft of regulations whenever they try to volunteer or play a bigger part in their neighbourhood, they begin to think they shouldn’t bother.
If we want to reverse this trend and encourage greater responsibility in our society, then we have got to trust people and give them more freedom to do the right thing. So this government has set a clear aim: to leave office having reduced the overall burden of regulation. With more than 21,000 regulations active in the UK today, this won’t be an easy task – but we’re determined to cut red tape.
GET INVOLVED
To do that, we need your help. You have to deal with these rules day-in, day-out. The Red Tape Challenge website is for you to say which regulations are working and which are not; what should be scrapped, what should be saved and what should be simplified.
Retail sector champion, Dr Kevin Hawkins, welcomed this initial response but urged more retailers, suppliers, trade associations and consumers to get involved and suggest easier, less bureaucratic ways to tackle the issues raised. He said:
“The response so far has been outstanding, but make no mistake this is an opportunity that is too good to miss. For the first time the Government wants to hear from those at the sharp end of the complex, sometimes overwhelming, amount of regulation. Tell us about those rules that really waste your time and money or better still suggest ways of tackling the issues that will make life better for you and your customers.
“And with the burden of responsibility on Ministers to make a case to keep regulations, it’s your voice that will shape the decisions on the way we do business in the UK”
How it works
Every few weeks all the regulations affecting one specific sector or industry are published on the Red Tape Challenge website.
Businesses tell us what’s working and what’s not, what can be simplified and what can be scrapped. Based on this feedback, changes will be made to the regulations to get rid of unnecessary red tape
General regulations
Some regulations affect all sectors, from rules on health and safety to those on employment. We’re inviting your comments on these throughout the process.
Comment here
What’s coming up
- 16 June - Manufacturing
- 23 June - Healthy living and social care
- 7 July - Media and creative services
- 21 July - Utilities and energy
- 4 August - Rail and merchant shipping
- 18 August - Mining and quarrying
13 Jun 2011