A new government report says that British businesses will benefit from around £4 million in cuts in regulation between January and June 2012.
The findings were contained in the Third Statement of New Regulation, published on 28 February, which looked at the success of the government’s One-in, One-out rule. It also found that the number of regulations that reduce a cost on business continues to outweigh the number that put a new cost on business.
The One-in, One-Out approach means that any new Whitehall regulation that imposes a net cost to business must be offset by a reduction in regulatory costs elsewhere.
Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk said: “The One-in, One-out process is one of the best tools we have to cut the costs and burden of regulation on our businesses.
“The system is starting to deliver results, capping the costs to business and then driving them down. But we know that changing the culture of regulation in Whitehall is a long-term job, and all of us in Government have to, and will, continue to root out any red tape which poses more of a hindrance than a help to UK businesses.”
The new statement also shows that departments have started to remove legislation as a result of the government’s Red Tape Challenge and deregulatory measures designed to reduce the burden on business are in the pipeline for later this year.
The latest statement of new regulation has been published four weeks ahead of the April Common Commencement Date (6 April) to give businesses more certainty about regulations that are coming in on that date.
Changes to be implemented by June include extending the qualification period for unfair dismissal rights from one year to two years. It means that employees starting new employment from April 2012 must be employed at their workplace for a minimum of two years before they are able to make a claim for unfair dismissal.
