§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many regulations were(a) removed and (b) reformed pursuant to the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 in each year since 1994: and if she will make a statement. [160142]
§ Nigel Griffiths52 Deregulation Orders were made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act between 1994 and 2001, when the Act was superseded by the Regulatory Reform Act. Each of the Orders made under the 1994 Act amended an individual Act of Parliament to remove regulatory burdens.
§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 3 March,Official Report, columns 963–64W, on business regulation, what the findings were of the 2002 Small Business Service research into the impact of the Climate Change Levy on small businesses; and what specific measures were introduced to reduce the regulatory burden for small businesses as a result. [161549]
§ Nigel GriffithsThe reports overall conclusion was as follows
'In general the impact of the CCL of SMEs does not appear to be significant, compared with other general business concerns.'
§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent on regulatory issues emanating from the EU in each year between 1997 and 2007; and how much full-time equivalent staff time in her Department was spent on EU regulations in each year.[161516]
§ Nigel GriffithsThe Department does not record the cost of or the number of staff required for negotiating and implementing regulatory issues emanating from Europe. The length of negotiation and implementation varies enormously from policy to policy and it would be hard to obtain a meaningful figure. Collating such figures would incur a disproportionate cost.