better regulation in the uk

Better Regulation in the UK

1 December 2008

1 December 2008Better Regulation in the UK

Lord Peter MandelsonSecretary of State

Overall responsibility for thedepartment

Ian PearsonEconomic and Business Minister

Pat McFaddenMinister of StateMinister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs

Stephen CarterMinister for Communications, Technology, Broadcasting and Better Regulation

Shriti VaderaMinister for Economic Competitiveness and Small Business

Gareth ThomasMinister for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs

Ministerial Responsibilities


Permanent Secretary

Better Regulation Executive

Enterprise and

Business Group

Fair Market

s Group

UK Trade &

Investment

Strategic Policy

Analysis

Legal Services Operations Group

Finance and Strategy Group

The Shareholder Executive

The Department’s Structure

Business Environme

nt Unit


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


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


BRE Structure

• Regulatory Reform Directorate

• Regulatory Innovation Directorate

• Strategic Support


Regulatory Reform DirectorateThe 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 BRE’s 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 BRE’s Prime Ministerial Chaired Cabinet Committee, called the Panel for Regulatory Accountability.


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.


The five principles of good regulation• Transparent

• Accountable

• Proportionate

• Consistent

• Targeted – only at cases where action is needed


Line Ministries

• Three levels of control:Regulatory

Reform Minister

Board Level Champions(senior civil servants)

Departmental Better Regulation Units(day to day coordination)


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


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


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


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


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


Who’s 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


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.


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


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.


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


Web links and e-mail

• www.berr.gov.uk/bre

• www.betterregulation.gov.uk

• IA Guidance: http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file44544.pdf

• RES Act 2008- http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/pdf/ukpga_20080013_en.pdf

better regulation in the uk

Documents

perception of regulation

existing regulation

burden of new regulation

challenges departments

clustering of departments

regulatory burdens

regulatory accountability

bres european work