§ Mr. SteenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 27 March,Official Report, column 410, if he will list the 1,000 regulations which have been targeted by Departments to remove unnecessary burdens to business; and if he will make a statement as to the progress proposed on each, and the timescale for so doing. [18090]
§ Mr. Jonathan Evans[holding answer 18 April 1995]: Of the 1,000 regulations, about 430 are concerned with transportation matters including about 25 aviation, about 250 maritime and about 150 road transport regulations; about 130 concern the Chancellor's Departments including amendments to the regulatory structure in implementing the investment services directive and the capital adequacy directive; regulatory changes arising from self-assessment of personal taxation and simplification of VAT accounting; about 110 are concerned with health and safety including legislation under the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974; about 100 concern trade and industry, including consumer protection, weights and measures, patents, insurance regulation, company and competition law; about 80 relate to local government, housing, environmental controls, and planning and building regulations; about 75 deal with agricultural, fisheries and food matters; about 50 relate to health matters including human medicines and food safety legislation; about 30 concern matters dealt with by the' Home Office including legislation on gambling, liquor licensing, street trading, public entertainment licensing and game licensing; the remainder are from other departments with regulatory responsibilities.
Considerable progress has already been made in implementing these changes. The timetable for the remainder varies because of the need for consultation with those affected by the regulations, but we expect about half of the 1,000 to have been dealt with by the end of the year.
Deregulatory action is also being undertaken in a number of other important areas, including ensuring that new regulations are introduced only if they are needed and have the minimum possible compliance costs; making enforcement procedures more business friendly; and promoting a deregulatory approach in the European Union.