The Business Secretary is raising the bar for any new business regulations, in the latest step to help British businesses flourish. 

A new White Paper uses newfound Brexit freedoms to set out ten common-sense principles that whip the regulators into shape and help businesses grow. 

The principles will introduce a new rule that means new regulations can only be introduced when it is “absolutely necessary.” This means your local business won’t face an unexpected and unnecessary regulation like the changes we’re consulting on that will make it easier for bars and pubs to serve you a drink on a terrace. 

They will also give local café’s the freedom to self-certify in certain cases, to prevent them being harassed by inspections and mandatory training courses, and puts a burden of growth on the regulators by making them explain how they are helping businesses grow. 

This marks the latest step in Government efforts to make regulations more effective and less burdensome for businesses – known as the Smarter Regulation Programme. 

The Programme – which was launched just last year – has already introduced reforms saving 50 million hours of admin work per year for businesses, saving them an estimated £1 billion, which has been pumped back into the economy. 

This runs alongside common-sense measures that will help to make al fresco drinking a permanent feature of the British high street – helping boost pubs across the country and allow punters to enjoy a pint in the sunshine. The Department will also lay out plans to redefine what a ‘medium business’ is so fewer firms have to produce lengthy ‘strategic reports’ - saving around 43,000 firms up to £150 million a year. 

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said:  
“This government is seizing the benefits of Brexit by reducing burdens on business, pushing down the cost of living, and driving growth in every corner of the economy. “The Smarter Regulation Programme I launched last year is ensuring that our regulations work for the job-creators and wealth-makers of the economy. 

“The reforms we outline today will give entrepreneurial businesses more opportunity to innovate, experiment, and capitalise on the UK’s global leadership in key sectors.”

Key features of the White Paper include:  

• Ten new common-sense ‘guiding principles’ that Government expects all regulators to apply in their day-to-day decision making.  
• This includes giving businesses, like your local corner shop or cafés, freedom to ‘self-certify’ in low-risk cases and not subjected to needless inspections or mandatory training courses before they can serve their customers. 
• A ‘register of regulators’ which will be a “one-stop-shop” of all regulatory information, helping businesses find what regulations need to be followed more easily, as opposed to being pulled from one website or phone line to another. 
• A new ‘Growth Duty Performance Framework’ which will make regulators more transparent about how they are helping businesses go for growth at every opportunity.   
• A ‘Share Once Support Register’ which will mean vulnerable customers only need to register with energy, telecoms and water companies once, ensuring their access to utilities is protected.    

These new measures will continue to deliver on the government’s commitment to grow the economy and ensure that the UK has one of the most innovative and agile regulatory regimes in the world.  

This is about establishing a high bar for regulation and imposing costs on businesses but is fully consistent with acting where that bar is met and where we need to protect consumers, businesses and the environment – for example the government’s steps to increase regulatory scrutiny in the water sector.