Small Businesses (Hansard, 18 June 2002)

§ Brian Cotter
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many members of her Department have been seconded to small businesses in the past five years; and what proportion of total placements these secondments account for. [61309]

§ Ms Hewitt
In recording information on the secondment of DTI staff to the private sector we have not, historically, included an indication of the size of the companies involved. It is not therefore possible to give the information requested. However, I have placed in the Library of both Houses information on the number of secondments commenced in each of the past five years and the companies involved. The total number of secondments to the private sector since 1997 has been 112.
We have recently introduced a new system for recording information on secondments and in future, where it is available, we will be recording within three ranges the size of the companies to which we send staff.

§ Hywel Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government have taken to reduce the level of regulations affecting small businesses in the last three years; and what further plans she has in this respect. [61160]
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§ Nigel Griffiths
The Government has put in place a number of measures to reduce the burden of regulations on small businesses, includingAnnounced in January 2000 that employers with over four or fewer employees will be exempt from the requirements to provide access to stakeholder pensions and deduct pension contributions. Announced in April 2000 an increase in the statutory audit threshold for companies from £350,000 to £1 million. This measure will relieve up to 150,000 small firms from the burden of a statutory audit, saving small companies up to £180 million a year. We have exempted small shops from the new EU unit pricing requirements. We have exempted employers with 20 or fewer employees from the trade union recognition procedures in the Employment Relations Act. The Small Business Service has produced clear guidance on a number of complex regulations. The Business Link Website is now attracting 80,000 users per month—and businesses can register to receive alerts about regulations automatically. A 12 weeks period between regulations has been agreed and implemented allowing owner managers time to adapt to the new regulations. Ensured that the view of small business influenced Patrick Carter's review of payroll administration, a copy of which is in the Libraries of the House. In February we published the regulatory Reform Action Plan—setting out over 250 proposals for better regulation and reform.
Further to these measures: An estimated 900,000 SMEs benefit from measures announced in Budget 2002, including 485,000 businesses whose corporation tax bill has been cut or abolished, and 700,000 small businesses who will be able to benefit from our flat rate VAT scheme. Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) have to be produced for all regulations setting out clearly the costs and benefits with full recognition of small business concerns. The Department's policy is to 'think small first': the Small Business Service has to be consulted on all RIAs to ensure that the impact on small firms is not disproportionate. Following the recent review of the DTL, the regulatory challenge function within the Department has been strengthened. A new tea has been created specifically to consider how the Department should challenge existing and future legislation as well as to how to ensure all policy makers fully consider alternatives to regulation at the outset of the policy making process.