Red Tape Challenge &Open Policy Making

Charlotte Spencer, Cabinet Office

Sophie George, BIS

Neil Smith, Cabinet Office

2

The Red Tape Challenge and Open Policy Making

Prime Minister, April 2011: “We need to tackle regulation with vigour both to free businesses to compete & create jobs, and give people greater freedom and personal responsibility”

• Deregulation tried before, but this time they meant it!

• One In One Out rule tackled ‘flow’, but still needed to ‘drain swamp’.

• Examining all [most] of the stock of inherited regulation, grouped in themes e.g. Retail, Company Law

• Added Sept 2012 – target to find, by 2013, 3,000 regulations to scrap or reform.

Open Policy Making...

• Crowd-sourcing

• Sector champions (including at Star Chambers)

• Panels of ‘real’ businesses

• External ‘Challenge Panels’

• Twitter / social media

• LinkedIn group

• Alternatives to regulation

• Behaviour change

• International sharing

External input helped drive the change

• Counter-cultural to many – surely key role of Whitehall to regulate?

• Lots of external input provided new ideas; new evidence; reality checks...

...and gave Ministers substance to challenge Depts’ defence of regulation.

•But combined with:

•Alignment with other incentives – the need to find ‘OUTs’ ; growth; efficiency; Civil Service Reform, digital by default...

•Strong (and sustained) central and political momentum

•Pace - ambitious targets in tight timescales

•Supported by lean joint Cabinet Office/BIS team, partnering with Depts

Doing policy-making & ‘challenge’ process a bit differently

• External input key to the challenge process and weaved in throughout

• Star Chamber meetings felt different

• officials (not Ministers) in front of Oliver Letwin & Michael Fallon

• the policy lead did the speaking (however junior)

• business presence (often)

Dept’s internal challenge processes

RTC team challenge meeting/s

Star Chamber (often with Sector Champ.)

Reducing RegulationCommittee / policy clearance

‘Coalition Proofing’

Announce theme outcomes

Business Panel

Theme launch;Comms; Sector Champion;People comment

Dept.implements

(Implementation Star Chambers; secondary repeals;Deregulation Bill)

Mark Ramsden (May 5)We cannot sell Christmas

crackers to under-16s because they fall within the

scope of the legislation. Such common and low-risk goods,

which we do not believe were the intended focus of the legislation, should be

exempted.

C Scales (May 26): We wish to allow guests to pre-

order champagne for special occasions (to be waiting for

them in a B&B room) or a bottle of wine to go with their dinner

in the self-catering accommodation – this is a

service (we are not next door to pubs or shops) and unlikely to

create profit. For this we would have to go through the same

licensing procedure and costs as a pub.

Adrian D. Greason-Walker (May 23): This regulation requires that no smoking signs be placed at each entrance to smoke-free premises. The ban on

smoking in enclosed public spaces has now been in force for a number of years we see little need for businesses to continually replace signage

[..] The signs are also unsightly as well as

unneeded

Stephen Perrett (Nov 14): Extend the qualifying period to 2 years – compulsory mediation like you are introducing in other areas such as divorce.

Crowdsourcing - useful comments

The Successes

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•5,669 regulations went through the process (target of 6,500)

•3,131 ‘scraps or improves’ with impact (target of 3,000) + 49 others not attached to a particular regulation e.g. big rationalisation of Defra guidance

• 800 reforms implemented so far, saving business £300m per year

• In total the reforms should save business over £800m per year (plus other savings not yet quantified, and savings to individuals and public bodies)

Big wins include:

•Introduced fees for Employment Tribunals (deters vexatious claims) and doubled the qualifying period for unfair dismissal.

•Scrapped unnecessary H&S inspections for 100,000s low risk businesses.

•Changed collective redundancy rules to save businesses £66m a year.

•Equality Act: employers no longer liable for staff harassment by a 3rd party. 

8

UNCLASSIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED

Challenges & Lessons

9

“Well, if it can be thought, it can be done,  a problem can be overcome”

• Virtually the whole statute book was a lot! More targeted next time?

• Departments’ ability to push it – resources; Ministers; Coalition issues

• Parliamentary process – not designed for volume of reform

• Seeing things through to completion

• Communicating the success – some of this only Whitehall will appreciate; & businesses still see new regulation (EU; govt policy priorities) coming in.

• Crowd-sourcing – needs a feedback loop. And didn’t replace need for formal consultation on substantial changes.

• Data protection

UNCLASSIFIED

Challenges & Lessons

9

“Well, if it can be thought, it can be done, a problem can be overcome”

• Virtually the whole statute book was a lot! More targeted next time?

• Departments’ ability to push it – resources; Ministers; Coalition issues

• Parliamentary process – not designed for volume of reform

• Seeing things through to completion

• Communicating the success – some of this only Whitehall will appreciate; & businesses still see new regulation (EU; govt policy priorities) coming in.

• Crowd-sourcing – needs a feedback loop. And didn’t replace need for formal consultation on substantial changes.

• Data protection