UK Government Publishes Legislative And Regulatory Reform Bill

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

13 January 2006

UK Cabinet Office Minister Jim Murphy on Wednesday introduced the Legislative & Regulatory Reform Bill to Parliament.

The legislation aims to make it quicker and easier to tackle unnecessary or over-complicated regulation and help bring about a risk-based approach to regulation, and would help to deliver a number of the wide-scale reforms announced in the Better Regulation Action Plan in May 2005.

It would do this primarily by creating a wider law reform power than that in the Regulatory Reform Act 2001. This will allow the Government to deliver reform of outdated or over-complicated legislation more quickly, and enable the mergers of those regulators not currently covered by separate legislation.

Mr Murphy explained that:

"The new Bill aims to make it simpler and faster for us to cut the burden of regulation and embed a light-touch, risk-based approach to regulation. It will enable us to deliver long-term benefits to the UK economy and improve our status as one of the world's most attractive places to do business."

He went on to add:

"The Bill is essential to deliver our wider radical regulatory reform programme. We are measuring how much red tape costs businesses and voluntary organisations so we can cut it, consolidating the number of national regulators, and driving through ambitious plans to simplify or reduce unnecessary bureaucracy across Government by as much as 25%. This can bring a saving to the UK economy of £10bn - the equivalent of 1% of GDP."

The proposed legislation includes:

• A new power to reform outdated, unnecessary or over-complicated legislation, enabling regulatory reform to be delivered swiftly and efficiently. This power to reform the law by order is intended to be used to implement: Measures identified in departments' simplification plans (due by the end of 2006); Uncontroversial Law Commission recommendations (including those reforming the common law); and Structural reform of regulatory bodies, including those Hampton mergers not being taken forward through separate legislation.
• Measures to encourage a risk-based approach to regulation and inspection by requiring regulators to have regard to the independent Better Regulation Commission's five principles of good regulation. These principles will embed a risk-based and proportionate approach to better regulation, encouraging effective enforcement.
• Measures to make legislation coming from the EU easier for UK organisations to deal with. The Bill will reduce the number of pieces of domestic legislation needed to implement an EU directive in the UK, and make new obligations more transparent and easier to understand for British organisations affected by them.

Commenting on the release of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, Confederation of British Industry Deputy Director-General, John Cridland observed that:

“The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill is a key plank in the foundations of the Government’s better regulation agenda, and the ability to deliver more regulatory reforms quickly and efficiently is good news for business."

“Crucially, the Bill seeks to bring about a lasting culture change in officials’ attitudes to risk and regulation, which is the real prize."

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