Better Regulation in the UK

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Better Regulation in the UK

• 1 December 2008

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Ministerial Responsibilities
Lord Peter Mandelson Secretary of State Overall
responsibility for the department
Ian Pearson Economic and Business Minister
Pat McFadden Minister of State Minister for
Employment Relations and Postal Affairs
Stephen Carter Minister for Communications,
Technology, Broadcasting and Better Regulation
Shriti Vadera Minister for Economic
Competitiveness and Small Business
Gareth Thomas Minister for Trade, Investment and
Consumer Affairs
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The Departments Structure
Permanent Secretary
Better Regulation Executive
Enterprise and Business Group
Fair Markets Group
UK Trade Investment
Business Environment Unit
Strategic Policy Analysis
Legal Services
Operations Group
Finance and Strategy Group
The Shareholder Executive
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Better Regulation Executive

• In 2005 the new Better Regulation Executive was
  established
• In 2007, BERR created
• Supports and challenges departments and
  regulators to reduce and remove regulation across
  the private, public and voluntary sectors

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What are we Trying to Achieve through Better
Regulation?

• Simplifying existing regulation (the stock)
• Minimising the burden of new regulation (the
  flow)
• Improve the perception of regulation and achieve
  culture change in enforcement and in Whitehall
• Influence Europe

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BRE Structure

• Regulatory Reform Directorate
• Regulatory Innovation Directorate
• Strategic Support

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Regulatory Reform Directorate

• The Regulatory Reform Directorate is responsible
  for supporting and challenging Government
  departments and regulators.
• Teams work with their regulators and departments
  to understand their priorities, the flow of
  future regulations and their plans to simplify
  regulatory burdens.
• As well as strong links across Government, teams
  also have strong relationships with the business
  and public sector organisations most affected by
  those departments and regulators.
• The teams work across the BRE agenda but some
  teams are more likely to focus on public services
  and others more on the private sector as a result
  of the clustering of departments and regulators.
• In addition, one team covers BREs European work
  including over time, a greater emphasis on
  influencing other departments in their
  negotiating positions on individual dossiers.
• This Directorate also houses the Secretariat to
  the BREs Prime Ministerial Chaired Cabinet
  Committee, called the Panel for Regulatory
  Accountability.

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Regulatory Innovation Directorate
The work undertaken in the Regulatory Innovation
Directorate (RID) is based on special projects
and future policy. The Directorate operates in
a flexible way with individuals working on one or
more projects at a time. Projects may vary in
length from a few weeks to a year or more. The
Directorate has recently completed the Rogers
Review of local authority regulatory priorities
(May 2007) Richard Macrory's Review of Regulatory
Penalties (November 2006) and Neil Davidson's
Review of the implementation of EU legislation
(December 2006). The Directorate also worked on
DTI's Gibbon Review on employment dispute
resolution.
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The five principles of good regulation

• Transparent
• Accountable
• Proportionate
• Consistent
• Targeted only at cases where action is needed

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Line Ministries

• Three levels of control

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Ministers Panel for Regulatory Accountability

• Scrutiny role on departmental regulations
• Approves all regulations with costs over 20m
• Challenges and, where necessary, approves
  over-implementation of EU law

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UK Parliament

• All legislation laid before Parliament must be
  accompanied by an impact assessment
• Includes secondary legislation such as Statutory
  Instruments, Orders, etc
• Increased scrutiny of impact assessments in
  legislative process
• Select Committee interest

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Inspection and Enforcement

• Review of Regulatory System- Hampton Report 2005
• Reducing the number of regulators
• Streamlining the regulatory process (RES Act
  2008)
• Improving communication to businesses

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Hampton Principles (1)

• Hampton Report
• seven principles for more efficient and effective
  regulatory inspection and enforcement
• Regulators should recognise that a key element of
  their activity will be to allow, or even
  encourage, economic progress, and only to
  intervene when there is a clear case for
  protection
• Regulators should use comprehensive risk
  assessment to concentrate resources in the areas
  that need them most
• Regulators should provide authoritative,
  accessible advice cheaply and easily
• No inspection should take place without a reason

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Hampton Principles (2)

• Business should not have to give unnecessary
  information, nor give the same piece of
  information twice
• Businesses that persistently break regulations
  should be identified quickly, and face
  proportionate and meaningful sanctions
• Regulators should be accountable for efficiency
  and effectiveness of their activities, while
  remaining independent in the decisions they take

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Whos enforcing the rules?

• Approx 60 non-economic regulators (from Housing
  Corporation to British Potato Council)
• Circa 600 000 inspections
• 432 local authorities
• Circa 2 million inspections

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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008

• Statutory powers to Local Better Regulation
  Office (LBRO)
• LBRO promotes more consistency across local
  authorities in the way they enforce regulations
  and work with central government.
• Coordination of regulatory enforcement
• Civil sanctions- provides a framework of
  administrative sanctions that will allow
  regulators to tackle non-compliance in ways that
  are
• transparent
• flexible
• proportionate to the offence.
• Regulatory burdens- duty on specified regulators
  to
• review the burdens they impose
• reduce any that are unnecessary and unjustifiable
  
• report on their progress annually.

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Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO)

• Created in 2007. Statutory power provided in RES
  Act 2008
• Aims to improve the performance of local
  authority regulatory services
• Improve local authority enforcement of
  environmental health, trading standards,
  licensing and fire safety services.
• Promote consistency and best practice in
  regulatory enforcement

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Public Sector Strategy 2007

• Fewer and better co-ordinated requests for data
  from the frontline
• 30 data-stream reduction target
• A reduction in the stock of unnecessary
  bureaucracy in the areas the front-line cares
  most about
• identify and tackle major irritants
• Better engagement with front-line workers to
  identify and remove bureaucracy
• stakeholder groups, surveys, and a website to
  allow anyone to put forward ideas for
  simplification.
• Better regulation that is understood and mirrored
  through the public service delivery chain
• Working with intermediate bodies to spread best
  practice and Better Regulation principles.

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Regulatory Budgets

• World-First- no other country have done this
  before
• Mechanism for managing the total cost of new
  regulations that could be introduced within a
  given period (3 years)
• Greater control over the total cost of regulation
• Better allocation of resources in the economy
• Consultation closed in November 2008 to be
  launched in April 2009
• Details are currently being finalised

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Web links and e-mail

• www.berr.gov.uk/bre
• www.betterregulation.gov.uk
• IA Guidance http//www.berr.gov.uk/files/file4454
  4.pdf
• RES Act 2008- http//www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008
  /pdf/ukpga_20080013_en.pdf