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Deregulation Task Force
7. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many firms with fewer than 100 employees are represented on the Government's deregulation task force. [27671]
Mr. Freeman: We do not hold figures for the number of people employed by each of the firms that has a member on the deregulation task force. However, three of the 12 business representatives are from small firms.
Mr. Cunningham: Will the Minister explain why there are more ex-Tory Members of Parliament on the deregulation task force than small business men, bearing it in mind that 99 per cent. of the task force's work involves small businesses?
Mr. Freeman: The appointments to the deregulation task force--the posts are unpaid--are drawn from those with expertise in different sectors of the economy. I pay tribute to the work of the task force under its current chairman, the right hon. Francis Maude, who has made a valuable contribution to identifying areas in which we should deregulate. Criticism of the deregulation task force comes ill from a party that, as I understand it, wants to scrap the task force and the deregulation unit in the Cabinet Office.
Madam Speaker: It is scarcely deserving, Mr. Steen, but I shall recognise you.
Mr. Steen: I explained the circumstances that brought me into the Chamber, and on the way I was delayed by a call that all of us understand.
Is not the problem with deregulation one of culture, and is not the culture of this place--of hon. Members, Ministers and civil servants--geared to passing more laws? This place spends all its time passing laws. Until we change that culture so that Ministers, hon. Members and civil servants do not think about passing more laws, we will not make the progress on deregulation that we should like.
Mr. Freeman:
Had my hon. Friend been able to put the question on which I had done a considerable amount of research, I might have been able to tell him that, in changing the culture, it is very important for Departments to focus on areas for repeal of primary and secondary legislation. We have made a good start by identifying 1,000 necessary repeals or amendments. We have already dealt with more than 600 of those, and the remaining 400 will have been dealt with by the end of this calendar year. That culture change should apply not only to Whitehall but to Brussels.
8. Mr. Heppell:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to increase the number of next steps agencies in the next 12 months. [27672]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service (Mr. David Willetts):
With some 70 per cent. of civil servants already working under next steps arrangements, we are getting very close to the original estimate of covering three quarters of the civil service. There are currently 124 agencies in operation, as well as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue, which operate on next steps lines. I would expect about two dozen more agencies to be set up in the coming year.
Mr. Heppell:
Does the Minister agree with the views expressed today in The Guardian by the former chief executive of the Prison Service, that all Government agencies should be protected from incompetent and over-excited Ministers?
Mr. Willetts:
The framework within which staff in next steps agencies work is very clear: they are civil servants; they are bound by normal civil service rules; they are accountable to Ministers; and Ministers, in turn, are accountable to the House.
9. Sir David Knox:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the progress of deregulation. [27673]
10. Mr. Pike:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what are the main objectives for deregulation during the next 12 months. [27674]
Mr. Freeman:
Eleven deregulation orders have passed into law, and there is a steady flow of new orders. We shall also work to make enforcement decisions more business friendly and to encourage a similar approach to regulation in Europe. Specific priorities include pay-as-you-earn and national insurance contributions joint working and a substantial reduction in the burden of Government surveys.
Sir David Knox:
Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while it is sensible to get rid of pointless and unnecessary regulations, it is not very sensible to deregulate merely for the sake of deregulation? Does he agree that many regulations that appear silly to the layman can be justified and should be retained?
Mr. Freeman:
The House will recognise that there is a constant flow of new regulations emanating from Brussels and from Whitehall, which is inevitable in an increasingly complicated society. Some regulations, however, have outlived their usefulness--I refer specifically to Victorian social legislation on what we do on Sundays--and are no longer appropriate. It is appropriate to remove specific burdens on businesses when that is helpful and does not jeopardise the protection of employees or the environment.
Mr. Pike:
Why does not the Chancellor admit that--other than many of those petty, outdated Victorian regulations that surely should have gone many years ago--his Department is increasingly discovering that regulation is necessary for protection in many areas and that it is impossible to remove much of it, contrary to what the Government thought possible a few years ago?
Mr. Freeman:
Interestingly, the Health and Safety Commission has discovered that it can, with safety and without jeopardising the protection of the consumer or the work force, reduce by 40 per cent. the number of health and safety regulations. That shows what can be done, Department by Department, without jeopardising the principles to which the hon. Gentleman referred and with which I agree.
11. Mr. Llwyd:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proposals there are to deregulate the small business sector; and if he will make a statement. [27675]
Mr. Willetts:
A package of new measures for small business was announced at the "Your Business Matters" conference on 11 March. The measures included a single notification point for tax and national insurance for new businesses and new rights for business in enforcement actions. A further response to the issues raised by small businesses during the conferences will be published in June.
Mr. Llwyd:
I thank the Minister for that answer. I am a small business man--I have been in business for some 20 years--and find the notion of depriving thousands of people of the protection afforded by employment tribunals quite abhorrent. Indeed, that feeling has been expressed wherever I have been. Is it not a ridiculous notion? I hope that the Government are not stupid enough to pursue it.
Mr. Willetts:
There will be no question of making any such proposals without full consideration and legal advice. Overall, however, the Government are committed to reducing the burdens on business. As the hon. Gentleman is a small business man, I am sure that he will recognise that the fact that 500,000 of the smallest companies no longer have to have their accounts audited is a welcome easing of the burdens that they face.
13. Mr. Win Griffiths:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his recent activities concerning the co-ordination and presentation of Government policy. [27677]
The Deputy Prime Minister:
I continue to chair the ministerial group on the co-ordination and presentation of Government policy and to promote the remarkable success of our polices in creating in this country the enterprise centre of Europe.
Mr. Griffiths:
I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for that answer. Will he be appearing on television to support the views of the Foreign Secretary, who is seeking ways deliberately to block business in Europe, or the views that he has expressed in the past and which are shared by the Chancellor of the Exchequer about playing a constructive role in the European Union?
The Deputy Prime Minister:
But the Foreign Secretary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I are wholly agreed on our approach to European policy.
14. Mr. Timms:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to improve the competitiveness of small businesses. [27679]
17. Mrs. Clwyd:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to improve the competitiveness of small businesses. [27682]
Mr. Freeman:
The Prime Minister announced a range of measures to help small firms at the final "Your Business Matters" conference in March. They included further reductions in bureaucracy, measures to help with late payment and a radical review of the Government's business support schemes. The Government will respond in full to the issues raised at the conferences in a publication produced alongside the third competitiveness White Paper in the summer.
Mr. Timms:
Why, then, have the Government placed the new burden on small businesses of having to check the immigration status of job applicants? Would not it have been better for the Government to have supported Labour's amendment to the Asylum and Immigration Bill, which would have exempted firms with fewer than 10 employees from that requirement and from the £5,000 fine when they get it wrong?
Mr. Freeman:
I know that my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary has made great efforts to ensure that the burdens on businesses caused by their enforcing the provisions in the Asylum and Immigration Bill are minimised as much as possible. However, the provisions must be effective and we cannot simply exempt small firms from the Bill's general requirements.
Mrs. Clwyd:
How can the Minister expect to be taken seriously on this issue when his boss boasts about stringing along his creditors and when late payments to small businesses doubled when his boss was President of the Board of Trade?
Mr. Freeman:
That is a travesty of what my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State said or implied or believes. In any case, my right hon. Friend is well able to answer for himself and has already done so.
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