§ Mr. SteenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what results have been achieved following the establishment of the deregulation advisory committee; how many members it comprises; how many sub-committees it contains; how many members comprise those sub-committees; what is the total cost of public funds of the initiative in terms of(a) staff salaries, (b) office costs and (c) incidentals and if he will make a statement on the progress he hopes to make in the next three months. [14812]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe deregulation task force has 16 members, including the chairman, the right hon. Francis Maude. It has a flexible working structure. At present, it is focusing on 10 broad areas of work: small business/licensing, enforcement, tax, health and safety, food and drink, environment, financial services, employment, transport and longer-term issues. Fourteen additional business representatives currently assist the task force on particular issues.
Task force members are not paid for their work, but they receive travel and subsistence expenses. Administrative support for the task force is provided by the deregulation unit in my Department, which also has the overall task of stimulating and monitoring progress to minimise regulatory burdens. Details of the total running costs of the deregulation unit are available in the DTI annual report which was published on 2 March and is available for inspection in the Library of the House.
The deregulation task force will issue its first annual report soon.