A welcome opportunity to demonstrate impact
22/07/10
The independent public body LBRO welcomed the review, by the Government, of its activities, which are creating the conditions needed to improve regulatory performance in a way that benefits business.
In a 14 October parliamentary statement on the Public Bodies Review Bill, which marked the end of the formal review of LBRO, Francis Maude MP said that Primary Authority and other deregulatory functions will be maintained and an appropriate delivery mechanism to provide independent technical expertise will be announced by December.
This support for the impact and potential of our functions provides further assurance for those businesses and local authorities working on Primary Authority and other deregulatory approaches.
A national study Business Perceptions Survey 2010 recently commissioned by LBRO and the National Audit Office (NAO) has shown evidence of an ongoing need to address the burdens faced by business.
The survey of 2,000 businesses found they believe the purpose of locally enforced regulation is clear; and what is expected of them in order to comply is straightforward to understand. However, around half don't think that local authorities understand their sector well enough to regulate them.
More than half of businesses feel the overall level of regulation in the UK is an obstacle to their success, with one in six businesses rating complying with regulation as their single greatest challenge.
Inconsistency of enforcement adds to the cost of regulation for business. The survey showed 38 per cent of businesses are not confident that local councils take a consistent approach to enforcement.
LBRO Chair Clive Grace said: "As an organisation we are confident we can show we have been delivering on our promises. Our activity is initiating a culture change across the system that will lead to reduced burdens on business and better protection for our communities."
"However, we are very aware we have only just begun to unravel a complicated system and there is still a great deal to be done."
LBRO key outcomes and impact
LBRO is simplifying a system that involves more than 12 national regulators and government departments and 433 local authorities delivering nearly 200 pieces of legislation.
LBRO's Primary Authority scheme ensures that businesses can access reliable and assured advice about its regulatory responsibilities, lowering costs and reducing burdens. With the mandate of Ministers, LBRO is working with BRE to examine extension of Primary Authority to take co-regulation further. This will reduce the level of state intervention required by recognising the efforts businesses make towards compliance through their own control systems.
Estimates show that Primary Authority could save businesses at least £32m per year: 89 businesses covering more than 21,000 premises currently have a primary authority partnership with a local authority, as a gateway to simpler, more successful local regulation, based on new relationships.
There are currently 229 businesses and 15 trade associations engaged in developing and offering Trading Places placements; 366 local regulators have undertaken or registered on placements to improve their understanding of business.
LBRO has developed a practical toolkit for regulatory services to measure the impact and outcomes of regulatory activity at a local level, identifying 48 cross-cutting outcomes. One hundred local authorities have worked through the tool either individually or in a group session to improve the impact and outcomes they deliver.
Facilitating prosperity and protection, LBRO works closely with business, national regulators, government departments, local authorities and professional bodies, in order to create the right conditions for professional, targeted and efficient enforcement at the local level.
LBRO's business reference panel brings together over 25 different business organisations, allowing the voice of business to be heard by Government. All 12 national regulators plus a number of government departments have agreed a single excellence framework for local authorities, the first locally and nationally agreed statement on excellence in regulatory services. Forty-three local authorities have so far self-assessed their regulatory services against this framework.
We have worked with our partners to develop common approaches to risk and competency. We have also worked with the nine new unitary authorities to develop new models of regulatory services.
LBRO is delivering the necessary changes to make the regulatory system more coherent, consistent and efficient to reduce burdens on local authorities and business, save taxpayer money and give front line professionals the freedom to deliver the outcomes that matter to businesses and citizens.
We are working to reduce data burdens on local authorities. Our work with CIPFA has identified that central bodies currently make 139 separate requests for information, drawing the equivalent of 171 full time officers away from front line duties and costing local authorities £6 million annually.
LBRO's provides advice to Government to save money. For example, we advised on allocating additional funding tackle unsafe goods at points of entry that will deliver at least £4.5m worth of benefit to the UK.
Through all of this, LBRO is seeking to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and change the culture of regulation and enforcement, moving away from a tick box approach to regulation by improving professional standards and establishing new ways of co-regulating.
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