For me this is the least important of the five Enablers of Enterprise identified in the white paper.

Entrepreneurs will always just get on and do their thing, whatever is going on in terms of the regulatory framework. There is work going on to simplify it, the UK's not too bad really in the first place, and most real entrepreneurs won't pay much notice except to the essentials. So if the government want the regulations to be observed they'd better make it easy to understand, and easy to comply.

Regulatory Framework: Key new policy measures proposed in this chapter

These are the new proposals as set out in the white paper:

  • The Government will consult on the introduction of a new system of regulatory budgets for Departments that would set out the cost of new regulation that can be introduced within a given period – “regulatory budgets” as suggested by the BRTF report.
  • The Government will introduce a new approach to regulating small firms in line with its “think small first” policy. In the first instance, it will examine whether small firms can be fully exempted from new regulatory requirements or be subject to simplification of enforcement. Where this is not possible Departments will seek to work with small firms to design specific approaches for them.
  • The Government will review existing legislation, ensuring the Hampton principles are embedded, introducing new, or amended, exemptions for small firms and, wherever possible, simplified inspection and enforcement.
  • The Government will establish an independent review to make recommendations on ways of ensuring firms can place greater reliance on official guidance and thereby reduce the cost of compliance.