Clause 1
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Pat McFadden (Minister of State (Employment Relations and Postal Affairs), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Wolverhampton South East, Labour)
I am happy to elucidate further upon LBRO and how it will do its job. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to root the discussion in the Hampton report, which was carried out three years ago. Hampton identified two basic problems in local better regulation. The first was inconsistency. Different advice was being given to businesses operating around the country; a business might get a green light in one local authority area, but a red light in another. Hampton found that to be costly and cumbersome to business. The second major flaw he identified was inflexibility in how regulation was enforced, particularly in the penalty regime. That applies more to part 3 than to clause 1, but those were the two issues that Hampton identified.
Our response is to establish the Local Better Regulation Office. The hon. Gentleman is right: local authority regulators sit at the centre of a complex system. His question is: how will a small organisation deal with the two quite major issues that Hampton identified? The first thing that I point him to is the board of LBRO. The LBRO has already been established as a company and a board has been appointed, and I hope he agrees that the board represents significant expertise from local authority, trading standards and business backgrounds. That expertise will be of significant help in enabling the LBRO to deliver its aims.
The LBRO will work closely with national regulators, local authorities and businesses, seeking their assistance and co-operation in delivering better regulation. It has a relatively small budget of about £4.5 million a year, but part of that will enable it to provide a level of financial support and assistance to local authorities in carrying out those functions. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that it is a relatively small organisation, but it will occupy a pivotal role at the centre of a complex system of regulation. The expertise of the board and the work it will do with all the different players—regulators, local authorities and businesses—will enable LBRO to carry out the job that we hope it will do.