A report said that regulation – often derided as 'red tape' – saved lives and prevented wrong-doing and criminality.
Source: David Walker (ed.), Regulating Right: Regulation shows its better and local faces, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Mangers (0845 652 4010)
Links: Report | SOLACE press release
Date: 2007-Dec
The Treasury published its 2007 autumn performance report, showing progress against its public service agreement targets.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2007, Cm 7256, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Dec
The government published 'simplification plans' for 20 departments and agencies. The plans set out more than 700 initiatives which, when delivered, would result in reduced administrative burdens and policy costs for businesses.
Source: Delivering Simplification Plans: A summary, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (0870 150 2500)
Links: Summary report | Hansard | DCLG plan | Home Office plan | MOJ plan | DWP plan | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Dec
Two 'capability reviews' were published on HM Revenue & Customs and HM Treasury. The report on the latter said that: 'some stakeholders and government departments believe that HMT would improve outcomes if it acted with greater humility and in a more open and inclusive way'.
Source: Capability Review of HM Revenue & Customs, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527) | Capability Review of HM Treasury, Cabinet Office
Links: HMRC report | HMT report | ICAEW press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Dec
The government published a Regulatory, Enforcement and Sanctions Bill. The Bill was designed to establish a Local Better Regulation Office charged with bringing consistency to local authority enforcement, and placed a requirement on regulators not to impose or maintain unnecessary burdens.
Source: Regulatory, Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL], Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | DBERR press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs expressed concern that the government appeared not to have consulted explicitly on the withdrawal of capital gains taper relief prior to the publication of the 2007 Pre-Budget Report. The government should also clarify its projections for the cost to the Exchequer arising from the proposed inheritance tax reforms and the assumptions about taxpayer behaviour that underpinned those projections.
Source: The 2007 Pre-Budget Report, Second Report (Session 2007-08), HC 54, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Comprehensive Spending Review. It said that the CSR had set a new benchmark for spending reviews in terms of 'wide-ranging and extensive' public engagement.
Source: The 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review: Prospects and Processes: Government Response to the Committee's Sixth Report, Seventh Special Report (Session 2006-07), HC 1027, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government published its 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review. Economic growth would slow from 3 per cent in 2007-08 to between 2 and 2.5 per cent in 2008-09. Public sector borrowing would rise by £4 billion in 2007-08, to £38 billion – but would then decline to £25 billion by 2011-12. The government said that it would adhere to its economic framework, including meeting the so-called 'golden rule' that existing spending and taxes should balance over the economic cycle as a whole. The overall growth of public spending would slow to 2 per cent per year over the period to 2010-11, compared with 4 per cent per year in the previous decade.
Source: Meeting the Aspirations of the British People: 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review, Cm 7227, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press releases | IFS press release | IPPR press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government published a progress report on the 'national reform programme', designed to implement changes to the 'Lisbon agenda' agreed in March 2005 by the European Union Council: these changes focused EU economic strategy more sharply on the key priorities of jobs and growth.
Source: Lisbon Strategy for Jobs and Growth: UK National Reform Programme – Update on progress, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report by a working group of the opposition Conservative Party proposed cutting 'red tape' for business by 3.7 per cent annually for five years, reducing costs by £14 billion by the end of a parliament. The proposals would allow firms more freedom to make people redundant, repeal working time regulations, and restore the United Kingdom's opt-out from the European Union social chapter on employee rights. It proposed the abolition of inheritance tax.
Source: Economic Competitiveness Policy Group, Freeing Britain to Compete: Equipping the UK for globalisation, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | FSB press release | CPRE press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | FT report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Aug
The Finance Act 2007 was given Royal assent. The Act implemented measures contained in the 2007 Budget.
Source: Finance Act 2007, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act
Date: 2007-Jul
A think-tank report said that regulatory impact assessments had failed to achieve their original aim. They were often executed as a bureaucratic, routine task rather than being used to shape and inform the whole regulatory approach. Cost-benefit analysis of proposed regulations could be poor.
Source: Keith Boyfield, RIAs: Why Don?t They Work?, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jul
An audit report said that government departments were seeking to reduce the administrative burden of regulation, and to deliver wider improvements in the regulatory environment by tackling aspects of regulation that businesses found particularly irritating and burdensome.
Source: Reducing the Cost of Complying with Regulations: The delivery of the Administrative Burdens Reduction Programme, 2007, HC 615 (Session 2006-07), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jul
An audit report said that regulatory impact assessments (used to assess the need for, and potential impact of, new regulations) had not always been used effectively. RIAs often failed to consider fully the cost and benefit of regulation, and did not take account of the long-term implications of regulation, particularly for issues of compliance and enforcement.
Source: Evaluation of Regulatory Impact Assessments 2006-07, HC 606 (Session 2006-07), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | BCC press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jul
The government set out a range of initiatives designed to help realize the benefits of better regulation for businesses, third sector organizations, and the public sector.
Source: Next Steps on Regulatory Reform, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report | Hansard | DBERR press release | CBI press release | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jul
A consumer group said that much of the information which government asked businesses to provide to consumers was failing to have the desired effect. There was too much information, presented in an unappealing and complex format; and it was unclear who the information was really for.
Source: Warning: Too Much Information Can Harm: An interim report, National Consumer Council (020 7730 3469) and Better Regulation Executive
Links: Report | NCC press release
Date: 2007-Jul
The Finance Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to implement measures contained in the 2007 Budget.
Source: Finance Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 26 June 2007, columns 184-297, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2007-Jun
The new Prime Minster (Gordon Brown MP) announced that the Department of Trade and Industry would be disbanded. Most of its functions would be transferred to a new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 28 June 2007, columns 36-40WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Downing Street press release | DBERR press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
HM Treasury published its annual report for 2006-07, showing its performance against public service agreement targets.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2006-2007, HC 518, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
HM Revenue & Customs published its departmental report for 2006-07, outlining its performance against public service agreement targets.
Source: Departmental Report 2007, Cm 7107, HM Revenue & Customs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMRC press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-May
The government began consultation on a draft Bill designed to help deliver a more effective and proportionate regulatory enforcement system. It would give the Local Better Regulation Office statutory powers to promote better communication among local authorities, and between them and central government, providing a better basis for keeping the burdens of regulation on businesses to a minimum. It would also allow regulators to respond in ways that were 'transparent, flexible, and proportionate'.
Source: Draft Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Consultation on the Draft Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill, Better Regulation Executive/Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Text of Bill | Consultation document | Hansard
Date: 2007-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that the 'golden rule' - under which the government should only to borrow to invest over an economic cycle - should be made more forward-looking, and less dependent on the dating of the economic cycle.
Source: The 2007 Budget, Fifth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 389, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
The Finance Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to implement measures contained in the 2007 Budget.
Source: Finance Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 23 April 2007, columns 656-763, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2007-Apr
The government announced, following consultation, a new 'impact assessment' process designed to ensure that all new regulation was necessary and imposed minimum burdens. This would replace the previous 'Regulatory Impact Assessment' process with a simpler, more transparent process that would be embedded in the earliest stage of policy-making.
Source: The Tools to Deliver Better Regulation: Revising the Regulatory Impact Assessment - Government response, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | IA guidance | Cabinet Office press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Apr
A government-commissioned review set out five national priorities to help local authorities focus the enforcement of regulation on the greatest risks. A national approach to regulatory enforcement would enable a greater concentration on the most important issues, a more proportionate approach to low-risk issues, and greater consistency across the country. Businesses would benefit from improved consistency of enforcement and sharper regulatory focus.
Source: Peter Rogers, National Enforcement Priorities for Local Authority Regulatory Services, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Supplementary volume | Cabinet Office press release | CIEH press release
Date: 2007-Mar
The 2007 Budget report was published. It said that the economy was experiencing its longest unbroken expansion since quarterly records began, with national income having grown for 58 consecutive quarters. The government had met its 'golden rule' of balancing public revenues and current expenditure over the course of the most recent economic cycle. The Budget proposed a 2 percentage point cut in basic income tax rates (from 2008-09), from 22 per cent to 20 per cent, combined with abolition of the lower-rate (10 per cent) band. Mainstream corporation tax was cut from 30 to 28 per cent (from 2007-08).
Source: Budget 2007: Building Britain's long-term future - Prosperity and fairness for families, Cm 342, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Budget Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press release (1) | HMT press release (2) | HMT press release (3) | Finance Bill | IFS press release | IPPR press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | FSB press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | FT report
Date: 2007-Mar
A think-tank report said that economic success rested on low taxation and high-quality education. But the government was instead set on raising public spending and taxation; and its targets-led approach would lower education standards and waste billions of pounds.
Source: Nick Bosanquet, Andrew Haldenby, Peter Hoskin, Helen Rainbow and Henry de Zoete, UK Growth and Opportunity: The need for a fundamental reassessment, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | Reform press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Mar
A think-tank report said that different types of private equity buy-outs had markedly different effects on jobs, wages, and the quality of working life. Private equity firms that took over companies and brought in new management teams were likely to cut jobs and depress employees' wages: but where an existing management team helped take a company into private equity in a management buy-out, jobs tended to increase and the impact on wages was smaller.
Source: Phil Thornton, Inside the Dark Box: Shedding light on private equity, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper said that the major reason for the narrowing of the regional employment gap in recent years had been the very rapid expansion of jobs linked directly to public spending.
Source: Ken Coutts, Andrew Glyn and Bob Rowthorn, Structural Change under New Labour, Discussion Paper 312, Department of Economics/University of Oxford (01865 271089)
Links: Discussion paper | Abstract
Date: 2007-Feb
A think-tank report said that the public finances were stronger than a decade previously. But the tax burden under Labour had increased by £40 billion, and the government had manipulated the economic cycle to meet its own fiscal rules.
Source: Robert Chote, Carl Emmerson, Andrew Leicester and David Miles (eds.), The IFS Green Budget: January 2007, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Report | IFS press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan
A think-tank report examined the Labour government's economic record since 1997, highlighting increases in public spending and taxation. The performance of public sector productivity had been 'dire', and the growth of Britain?s public sector had undermined economic dynamism.
Source: Ruth Lea, The Chancellor?s Record: An audit of the last 10 years, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jan
A think-tank report said that New Labour had adapted itself to the 'economic rationalism of the neo-liberal project' rather than attempting to go beyond it, and had not responded to the new threats of the market. It proposed moving to a single rate of pension tax relief, and removing the benefit for higher earners; replacing council tax with a tax on land values; and introducing a top income tax rate/national insurance levy of 50 per cent on income of £100,000 or more a year.
Source: Hetan Shah and Martin McIvor (eds.), A New Political Economy, Compass (020 7463 0633)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs said that despite the improved forecast for economic growth in 2006, the fiscal position had not improved since the 2006 Budget, as a result of pressures on existing public spending in 2006?07 and the downward revision of forecast tax receipts as a proportion of national income in subsequent years. It recommended that the Treasury review the 'golden rule' (balancing public receipts and spending over an economic cycle) to consider whether it could be made less dependent on the process of dating the economic cycle.
Source: The 2006 Pre-Budget Report, Second Report (Session 2006-07), HC 115, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan