§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will publish an annual estimate of the total costs of compliance with statutory regulations to(a) all United Kingdom businesses and (b) United Kingdom businesses with fewer than 100 employees. [81645]
§ Mr. KilfoyleNo. The Government do not, and do not intend to, publish estimates in the form requested. Individual Regulatory Impact Assessments are already placed in the Libraries of the House.
Costs in isolation are misleading and they should not be aggregated. Regulations bring benefits as well as costs. The Government's approach is designed to ensure that regulations are introduced only where necessary and that they follow the principles of transparency, accountability, targeting, consistency and proportionality.
The approach also includes a specific assessment of the impact on small businesses. In addition, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry recently announced the introduction of the Small Business service to be a strong voice for small business and to provide practical assistance to cut the burdens of compliance.