§ The Earl of Arranasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they plan to publish a report on the progress made on deregulation since the publication of the White Paper Building Businesses not Barriers (Cmnd. 9794) in May 1986.
§ The Secretary of State for Employment (Lord Young of Graffham): A report to Parliament is being published today, setting out the progress that the Government have made over the last year to reduce the impact of regulation on business. Copies of the report, Encouraging Enterprise, and a summary leaflet entitled Lightening the Load, have been placed in the Library and are available from the Printed Paper Office. We intend to make the leaflet widely 410WA available to the business community. Copies of the full report will be available on request from the Enterprise and Deregulation Unit.
The report reviews the experience of the arrangements that have been set up to pursue the deregulation initiative across Government and, in particular, the procedures for assessing the cost to business of new proposals. It sets out the valuable progress that has been made at European level to tackle red tape. The report also gives a detailed account of action by Government departments over the past year, and sets out a number of new proposals for future action.
In my foreword to the report, I make clear the Government's continuing commitment to reducing the burden of regulation and identify a number of priorities for the future.