BRE chair welcomes regulation recommendations

Date: 9th August 2010

The government has been urged not to presume that regulation is the answer for all of the UK's business problems.

A recently-published report by the Regulation Policy Committee (RPC) has called on Whitehall officials to consider all the alternatives when new regulations are being discussed.

The report also called for a "robust analysis" of all alternatives to regulation to be provided and for reliable estimates of the cost of in bringing in new regulations to be produced.

It follows an announcement from business secretary Vince Cable that the coalition will employ a one-in, one-out policy over business regulation later from the start of next month.

Sir Don Curry, non-executive chair of the Better Regulation Executive, commented: "The RPC's findings show how important vigorous, independent scrutiny of new Whitehall rules can be. We have to ensure that if regulation is needed, it is designed and implemented in the best possible way.

"The introduction of the new one-in, one-out rule in September will need robust evidence, and the enhanced role of the RPC will be essential in driving forward the culture change in Whitehall and ensuring government departments meet these requirements."

Posted by Thomas Fletcher