News Archive - Key Developments
26/10/10 Three of the UK's major supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury and the Co-operative Group, are among the latest major companies that have signed up to Primary Authority, taking participation by the food retail sector to 73%.
21/10/10 The first ever comprehensive report of business attitudes to regulation and its burdens, involving consensus from an unprecedented range of leading representative bodies and companies, has been published.
18/10/10 Primary Authority is now established as one of the key mechanisms in cutting red tape for business and could be strengthened to give it more ‘teeth' following two major statements.
05/10/10 LBRO is to work on fresh proposals to tackle the issue of sales to children of alcohol, cigarettes and other age-restricted products.
27/09/10 People in Wales have a high level of confidence in the consumer protection advice they get, according to a new survey of attitudes, but many have serious concerns about alcohol and cigarettes being sold to children.
21/09/10 A local council has saved its primary authority business the £1m cost of unnecessary health and safety measures, showing the very real benefits of the red tape cutting scheme.
31/08/10 Retailers, who spend £20m per year on preventing sales to underage people of alcohol, tobacco, spray paint, knives, fireworks and other age-restricted products, have set out their ideas in a new report.
18/08/10 More than 100 councils are now using a new tool designed to show the benefits of local regulation to business, consumers and communities; with numbers growing as budget constraints demand greater demonstration of value for money.
30/07/10 More major businesses have added their weight to the Trading Places programme, which encourages better working relationships between regulatory officers and businesses.
28/07/10 Improving the quality of life in Wales is at the heart of priorities set out in a new document prepared by LBRO for the Welsh Assembly Government.
22/07/10 LBRO welcomes the review, by the Government, of its activities, which are creating the conditions needed to improve regulatory performance in a way that benefits business.
16/07/10 Another step towards making the regulatory system work better has been taken following the signing of memoranda of understanding between LBRO, the technical expert on local regulation, and five major regulatory bodies.
28/06/10 Local councils now have a robust tool for improving their regulatory services, an independent report has concluded.
15/06/10 Ministers have asked the Better Regulation Executive to work with LBRO - the technical expert on better local regulation - to prepare options for extending the Primary Authority scheme.
21/05/10 LBRO has produced a ready to use version of its Impacts and Outcomes toolkit following its enthusiastic take up by regulatory enforcement officers.
06/04/10 Delivering a single business inspection, by one inspector, covering multiple regulatory functions, ranging from trading standards to environmental health, is a considerable challenge, according to a second report on the Retail Enforcement Pilot (REP).
30/03/10 LBRO has begun the process of refreshing the national enforcement priorities for regulation in England, with the emphasis changing to focus on outcomes and risk.
15/02/10 The first agreement between all key players on ‘excellence' in delivering outcomes through the local authority regulatory system - the Excellence Framework - has been launched by Consumer Affairs Minister Kevin Brennan.
04/12/09 A new report highlights the economic benefit to the UK from local regulatory enforcement action to protect business and the public from threats to the nation as a whole.
21/10/09 For the first time local regulators have access to a powerful toolkit to help them in planning budgets and priorities, and raising their profile, following groundbreaking research commissioned by LBRO, the public body responsible for better local regulation.
20/10/09 New research shows that the way local councils enforce regulations can have wide ranging effects on your community - anything from boosting the price of your house to health benefits.
14/07/09 Successful initiatives in the fight against underage sales of alcohol have been highlighted in a new study by the public body for better local regulation, LBRO, as part of a drive to help local councils and police forces keep alcohol out of the hands of the under 18s.
03/07/09 The public body for better local regulation, LBRO, could help councils get new powers to secure compensation for consumers, following today's publication of the Government's Consumer White paper.
15/06/09 Focusing local weights and measures activity on the national priority of healthy workplaces by targeting related activity such as drug preparations, is one of the innovative approaches to tackling national priorities at a local level and within limited budgets, recently published by LBRO.
06/04/09 Retailers B&Q, Iceland and Moto Hospitality Ltd today signed up to the launch of the new Primary Authority scheme designed to ensure that key trading laws are applied consistently across the UK. Lord Carter, Minister for Regulatory Reform, welcomed the official signing of the partnership agreements between some of Britain's biggest businesses and most innovative councils.
27/03/09 Senior company bosses, regulators and business organisations attended the launch of Trading Places - a new initiative from the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) to show local authority regulators first-hand how their decisions affect the business they inspect.
11/11/08 Council services providing vital consumer protection and regulatory advice to business are delivered amid enormous complexity, the first ever 'map' of the UK's regulatory regime reveals.
01/10/08 A major new business survey has found that just over seven out of 10 businesses feel that council enforced regulations can be as big or a bigger burden than tax and employment law - setting out the challenge for the Local Better Regulation Office, which marked its formal launch today.
12/09/08 Some of Britain's biggest businesses and most innovative councils are to pioneer a new type of regulatory partnership designed to ensure that key trading laws are applied consistently across the UK.
30/05/2008 Two influential organisations - LBRO and LACORS - today pledged to work together for better council regulatory services.
15/05/07 Hilary Armstrong, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, today announced the appointment of seven Board Members and a chief executive of the newly established Local Better Regulation Office.
15/04/07 Hilary Armstrong, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, today announced the appointment of Clive Grace as Chair of the Local Better Regulation Office.
