Clause 1 - Purpose
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
4:00 pm
Oliver Heald (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Assisted By Shadow Solicitor General), Constitutional Affairs; North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr Caton.
I was saying that exempting small firms from the impact of regulations is the lesser of two evils. The Better Regulation Task Force looked at whether providing exemptions created disincentives to growth, but found little evidence to support that. The argument against small business exemptions is that they can create unfair competition. I accept that to remove regulatory burdens from all businesses is preferable, but it is not necessary to ensure that all suffer to the same extent.
Small firm exemptions are a useful tool and new clause 5 asks Ministers to reduce the regulatory impact on small businesses where appropriate.