Small Businesses

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 9:36 am on 19 June 1998.

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Photo of Mrs Barbara Roche Mrs Barbara Roche Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Small Firms, Trade and Industry), Department of Trade and Industry 9:36, 19 June 1998

I am not saying anything of the sort. If the hon. Lady will allow me to make some progress, I may be able to help her.

The task force published its first reports—on consumer law and on long-term care—in May. It has produced principles of good regulation: transparency, accountability, targeting, consistency, and proportionality, which is vital. I am working with ministerial colleagues and business and local authority representatives on the access business initiative. We are working hard to make the regulatory system more transparent, accessible and, most important of all, business-friendly. We have drawn up a concordat between central and local government to ensure that enforcers see their primary task as helping business, with formal action as a last resort. That has been warmly welcomed.

Much of our legislation is driven by Europe. We need to ensure that the European Union puts into practice the same principles as we are working towards at home. That has been a major theme of our presidency. We are working with the Commission on the simpler legislation for the internal market initiative.

We have given unstinting support to the business environment simplification task force, chaired by the United Kingdom's Dr. Chris Evans, a well-known entrepreneur of Merlin Ventures. Its recent report made a substantial number of recommendations for reducing administrative and other burdens on business, and enabling better access to finance and to training.

In particular, the task force proposed that a better regulation unit be established under the direct responsibility of the President of the European Commission to oversee and co-ordinate regulatory review and reform; that member states should seek to promote and endorse enterprise and entrepreneurship at all levels, and that entrepreneurial and management skills should feature on the school curriculum; and that new ways should be found to expand the range of finance opportunities available to small firms. I am glad to say that we are already pursuing many of the recommendations in the report, and are examining all of them carefully.

In his last Budget, the Chancellor announced a package of measures to simplify rules and to make compliance easier. That included a payroll assistance scheme for new small employers. Combined with the proposal to merge the Department of Social Security's Contributions Agency with the Inland Revenue in April 1999, those measures should have real, practical benefit for small businesses.

Yesterday's historic announcement of the national minimum wage has been widely welcomed by everyone, with the exception of Conservative Members, who have clearly learnt absolutely nothing from their election defeat. The Government firmly believe that people who work for small firms are entitled to the same level of protection from low wages as those who work for giant corporations.

That is not to say that we underestimate the impact of the national minimum wage on small firms. That is why, when we established the Low Pay Commission, we made sure that among its members were people with a good understanding of the small business sector.