From 2011 to 2014 the government ran the red tape challenge (HERE) to try to find and mitigate the worst of the petty red tape regulations that were supposed to be "strangling" business and which had "spiralled out of control" according to the government website. However if you click on the Red Tape Challenge link on the government website you learn the whole thing was archived on 22nd May 2015 (HERE).
There was apparently some achievements that came about as a result, such as relaxing control of the size of No Smoking signs, exempting valets and mechanics from tests aimed at professional lorry drivers and so on. Small businesses were saved £300 million in increased flexibility and audit requirements - but you can see this actually worked out at £300 each - hardly strangulation - and this was the largest single saving. One of the people on the Red Tape Challenge was our old mate John Longworth but when asked to produce a list of these burdensome rules he couldn't come up with any to speak of (HERE).
Anyway having dropped the Red Tape Challenge they have now started the Red Tape Initiative (RTI) under Oliver Letwin. The website is HERE but there are questions being raised about who is actually funding this effort (HERE) and nothing is going to be published until Q2 2018. The aim is to "to cut some of the bureaucracy that has impeded business and made lives more difficult". The first three areas that the RTI will address are: 1) the construction of housing 2) the construction of infrastructure 3) training and apprenticeships.
In spectacularly bad timing the RTI considered a push to dismantle regulations on construction materials including cladding after Brexit on the morning of the Grenfell fire in London (HERE).
This is the problem with regulations isn't it? One man's regulatory burden is another man's life saver. My guess is that they won't find anything substantial to cut but they will produce a list of "petty" regulations that can be reduced or eliminated and the savings will be exaggerated to make it look like something has changed when it hasn't.
