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21,000 pieces of legislation govern our lives -
anything from the storage of food to working at heights and the musical
jingles that you use on an ice cream van
and the prices of beds. Do we really need 21,000 rules
and regulations? Small businesses certainly in the past have always said that this is an
overburden of red tape.
Terry Irwin joins me, MD of
TCii Strategic and Management Consultants.
Terry, I know you work with both small businesses and big businesses.
That's right. But small businesses in particular fear that this is an
overburden of red tape. They want to get rid of it, the government wants to
get rid of some of it too. It's thrown down its Red Tape Challenge.
Is there really
an overburden of red tape?
well certainly on the basis of the clients we deal with, there has certainly been
some reaction to this, particularly with Vince Cable's comment that
the feedback that they get is going to be assumed to be correct unless
government ministers can prove
that's not the case. So if we as small businesses say "Get rid of this piece,
it's no longer of any use to us",
ministers will have to prove it has to stay. That's what we understand, yes, and
a lot of the small businesses we work with who, shall we say,
are suffering,
seem to have responded quite positively to that.
What are they saying, then? What are small businesses saying is wrong with the regulation we've got?
Well, it's just complexity and things that don't seem to make sense, and yet
do restrict the business. It could be
anything from - for instance, we were working with a bakery client
whose geographical expansion has been tremendously slowed, and in some cases
prevented, by planning
regulations.
We've got another client who,
with a new building they're getting constructed, has to put in
"No smoking" signs all around the building.
They're saying, is that really necessary these days? Don't we all know that you can't smoke inside?
Exactly!
So there are all sorts of things like that that don't seem to make any sense, don't
seem to serve
any real purpose, and yet are restricting the small businesses from growing,
basically because of the administrative burden and the cost of implementing them.
Employment legislation,
health and safety legislation,
small businesses quite often moan about those, but really, where would we be without them?
Well, certainly, there's no question that the level of protection for the employee
is a lot greater now than it was in the past, but the other side of the coin is that some small
businesses really are finding it difficult
to bear the burden
of the cost.
They've all been through the recession, just like everybody else, and they've
been struggling, and a lot of businesses, as you know, have gone out of business.
So there are some businesses that are literally on the edge, and having to implement
and bear the cost
of all this new legislation is really pushing them over that edge.
Taxation is also another thing
that there have been a lot of
complaints about - it's too complicated.
But the government has set up the Office of Tax Simplification.
They are going to tackle this. Well, this is it, but some of the comments we're getting back are
why wasn't taxation included in
this red tape removal exercise, because it clearly says it's a separate issue.
And there's a certain feeling that perhaps
the red tape that's going to be removed
is the red tape that doesn't really have the most significant effect on businesses, but does have
the most significant effect on the government.
So we're all quite cynical about this, from what you're saying. There is a certain amount of cynicism,
but there's also a degree of optimism as well, as lots of our smaller
clients are very pleased at this whole
exercise of looking at red tape - someone really taking it seriously,
someone really trying to do something about it. Of course, the proof of the pudding is going to be in the eating,
so we shall see what happens when the recommendations
for removal of red tape go through.
You can go on the government's website, the challenge is that you say
to the government: this is what we need to get rid of. The government then
asks ministers and civil servants to have a look at it.
If it can't justify it staying, it goes. It's out. So we really should take part in this, shouldn't we?
Absolutely, this is it.
And the trick, if you like, is getting rid of the cynicism of people out
there, the small businesses out there who think it's not worth doing anything
because nothing's going to happen. I think this is a great chance for them
to do something.
A small number are already doing that, and hopefully it will spread
throughout small business.
21,000 pieces of legislation. What do we want it reduced to - about eleven?
[Laughs]
Well, let's just say considerably less. And it's not only what exists,
it's also what's coming in.
So perhaps a reduction in the level of new legislation and red tape that is actually
being implemented or introduced every month would be good as well.
And of course we've seen that moratorium on domestic legislation for
micro-businesses with fewer than ten employees.
They won't have to
enforce any of that domestic legislation for three years.
But really they're storing up problems for themselves if they don't join up, because
at the end of the three years they're going to have to implement it. Absolutely, and in that case
it's a double-edged sword, because I think
they're just avoiding the
reality of the situation, and I think yes, all that means is that the problem is pushed
forward, and it could be pushed forward to a time when they're not
perhaps as well prepared to deal with it as if they started dealing with it now.
Well, you're a strategic
and management consultancy. I am! We are!
But what are you yelling your small businesses, then, in terms of
dealing with the rules and regulations that are in,
dealing with the rules and regulations that are coming in,
dealing with the raft that comes in from the EU? "Plan it in", I take it.
Well, we're telling them to plan it in,
I mean it's coming. We're also making them aware of the vehicles
- like this cutting back of red tape -
that exist,
where they can, shall we say, raise their voices and be heard, to do something
about that, and we're also pointing out that
if they don't take an opportunity like this,
it's ultimately going to reflect against the growth of their businesses.
And the government has started with the retail sector -
we're standing here
surrounded by shops. Come on, guys, get in there, get your voice heard.
What's wrong with the retail regulations at the moment - let the government know.
Stand up and be counted. Terry, thank you very much indeed. You're very welcome. Thank you. Goodbye.