The government has unveiled a plan to make regulation support growth, apparently after discovering that the economy was being asked to complete its forms in triplicate. The policy paper promises simpler rules, clearer responsibilities and less administrative burden, while insisting that public protections will remain in place. A bonsai has already applied to become a low risk pilot scheme.
The factual news is a government action plan arguing that regulation can encourage investment when it is designed and implemented properly. It says the current system has become too complex, with more than 100 bodies involved in regulation and businesses facing overlapping requirements. The paper proposes cutting administrative costs for business by 25 per cent by the end of the Parliament.
This is being presented as a serious attempt to make the system easier to navigate. The plan includes possible mergers, reviews of regulators and a single front door for some major projects. That should reassure anyone who has spent three months discovering which public body is responsible for asking them to contact another public body.
There will also be faster routes for selected approvals, including paid for fast lanes where regulators and businesses agree that expedition is appropriate. The safeguards are expected to remain, which means the queue will still exist, but some applicants may now be allowed to stand at the front while holding a receipt and looking suitably investment ready.
At the fictional Office of Growth Related Paperwork, clerk Miriam Tottle has been laughing at the phrase “reduce complexity” since breakfast. She says the office has prepared a 46 page guide explaining how to access the two page guide explaining the new simplified process. The bonsai has offered to absorb the forms, although nobody can confirm whether this would count as environmental innovation or merely vegetation with excellent administrative instincts.
The contradiction is not that regulation should protect people, businesses or the environment. It is that a system built from layers of duties, reviews, targets and strategic steers now needs a fresh strategic steer explaining how to have fewer strategic steers. The plan promises accountability for regulators while asking everyone to remain confident that this time the paperwork will regulate itself.
If the reforms work, businesses may receive clearer decisions, regulators may gain more focused duties and the public may keep its protections. If they do not, the government can announce a new action plan to simplify the action plan, followed by a consultation on whether Miriam has filed the consultation about filing consultations in the correct font. The bonsai, meanwhile, has been promoted to chief executive of the queue.
Source: GOV.UK.
