Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how effective their policy to reduce red tape has been; and what evidence they have to support those conclusions.

This Government has saved businesses £2.2bn per annum by cutting regulation through One-in, One-out (later One-in, Two-out) and the Red Tape Challenge. These savings are set out in the Ninth Statement of New Regulation, and have been independently validated by the Regulatory Policy Committee. The Statement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/one-in-two-out-ninth-statement-of-new-regulations

The ‘One-in, One-out’ rule introduced by this Government was introduce to stem the flow of disproportionate regulation by requiring departments to find £1 of regulatory saving to business for every £1 of new regulatory cost. In 2013, we increased our ambition even further by doubling the rule to ‘One-in, Two-out’. Through the Red Tape Challenge, we have tackled the stock of unnecessary, over-complicated and burdensome regulation. Our starting point has been that regulation should go unless there is good justification for the Government to be involved.

This combined approach to challenging the stock and flow of regulation has made a difference to business experience of red tape in the UK. This is illustrated in the World Economic Forum’s recent ranking of the UK as having the lowest perceived burden of regulation in the G7, a substantial improvement from 2010, when the UK had the third highest perceived burden of regulation in the G7.