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Forum of Private Business
Think
small first
The Forum of Private Business looks at the tide of government regulation
drowning the owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses
T
he Government has unveiled plans to the regulatory budgets recently, the Secretary them as owners and managers is significantly
impose ‘regulatory budgets’ on depart- of State for Business, Enterprise and Regula- more than the Government's estimations.’
ments. Their purpose will be to stem the tide tory Reform, the Rt Hon John Hutton, publicly
Burdens
of new regulations that leaves many en- pledged to reduce regulatory output across
trepreneurs having to negotiate the piles of pa- government to ‘as close to zero as possible.’ Once there is an understanding of what un-
perwork that land on their desks each day. A However, despite being encouraged that the necessary regulation means for business own-
2007 survey carried out by the Forum of Pri- Government is finally taking action, the FPB ers, then the burden of new and existing
vate Business (FPB) into the cost of complying has some reservations. In March this year, an regulations can be properly addressed. The
with regulations revealed that, on average, FPB survey revealed that 84% of respondents FPB is planning regular surveys of members,
business owners devote 14 hours per month agreed that the Government's plan to simplify which continue to report a steady increase in
to filling in forms. regulation should be extended to cover the red tape, in order to gauge the real success of
The Government’s historical efforts to costs of compliance with regulations. the Government’s efforts.
micro-manage the economy through legisla-
Red tape
FPB member Richard Allen owns a hair-
tion first and foremost conflicts with the FPB’s dressing salon based in Canterbury. He is
‘think smallest first’ campaign, which was Part of the problem is the lack of a definition struggling to run his business due to the cur-
launched in Brussels by Phil Orford, the FPB’s of ‘red tape’. The FPB is calling for a definition rent regulatory burdens and associated costs.
Chief Executive. Excessive regulation is a bar- that is shared by decision-makers and busi- ‘The whole thing is ludicrous,’ said Mr Allen.
rier to entrepreneurship. How can the smallest ness owners alike, and one that includes the ‘At the moment, I'm having to deal with em-
businesses, those with fewer than 10 employ- burden of more established legislation, in ad- ployment legislation. Due to the costs of the
ees – the average size of FPB members - hope dition to new laws that are coming through. burden of red tape, we have had to reduce the
to grow if expansion means having to tackle a Many existing regulations, particularly in the number of staff we employ; we've gone from
far greater administrative burden? The FPB has important areas of health and safety and em- having fourteen to eight employees.
called on politicians in Brussels, Westminster, ployment, contain administrative requirements The FPB is concerned that, if the whole sys-
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to sign a that are just as burdensome for the owners of tem is not properly coordinated, the new pro-
pledge supporting the campaign. small businesses as the new ones that are posals could fail to produce the expected
Left alone
coming in. While the proposed regulatory bud- results. Regulatory budgets, which should in-
gets may counter future red tape, it is less cer- clude regulations emanating from the Euro-
Entrepreneurs want to be left to run their tain how they will ease the existing problem. pean Union in addition to domestic
businesses effectively, wherever possible, free The FPB's Research Manager, Thomas departmental targets, must be both closely
from any unnecessary regulatory restrictions. Parry, said: ‘In the past, government impact managed and results-driven. If they are not, the
The FPB has long called for a change in the assessments have underestimated time and scope for failure will increase considerably.
regulatory culture that is often associated with requirements for small businesses. Our own
doing business in the UK. At last, the Govern- research has shown that the time required by
ment appears to be listening. At the least it is our members to unravel the complicated tan-
making some of the right noises. Announcing gle of red tape and do what is expected of
44 • issue 164 Business Matters
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