§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 12 May (WA 44), whether the volume of regulation with which businesses have to comply has increased or declined since they took office in 1997. [HL2966]
57WA
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)It is difficult to assess the volume of business regulation other than through international comparisons. The World Bank'sDoing Business in 2004 (published in October 2003) named the UK among 10 countries out of 130 with the least regulation and the OECD economic survey of the United Kingdom (published January 2004) noted that "Competitive pressures appear to be relatively strong in the UK, with economic and administrative regulations inhibiting competition and barriers to trade amongst the lowest in the OECD".
§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they make any estimates of the costs of each new regulation to business. [HL2967]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleYes. A regulatory impact assessment (RIA) is required for all regulations that have a cost or benefit to business. Copies of every RIA are available in the Libraries of the House.