HC Deb 25 February 1999 vol 326 cc430-1W
Dr. Cable

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimates the Government have made of the cumulative impact on British business of changes in the degree and level of regulation since 1 May 1997. [71609]

Mr. Kilfoyle

Since the election, we have regularly published Command Papers listing all the regulations which have been introduced within the previous six months. We have also published Compliance Cost Assessments to accompany all new regulations with an impact on business. Since last August that requirement extended to the Regulatory Impact Assessment which better focused on benefits as well as costs.

The cost of new regulations, as reported in Compliance Cost and Regulatory Impact Assessments, provides a helpful snapshot of the initial burden imposed by new regulations. However, the type and incidence of the burden imposed by each regulation can be quite different and the costs cannot be added together so as to produce a figure which, on its own, has any real meaning. The Government do not therefore publish cumulative figures.

However, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his Pre-Budget Report, asked the Better Regulation Task Force to examine the relationship between regulations and productivity. The Task Force will shortly offer initial findings on the impact of regulations on business start-up, success and growth and will publish a full report in the summer.