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Introduction

Industry concern about the negative effect of the mounting burden of regulation on businesses has been an issue for some time. Acknowledging that these concerns are well founded, previous governments have launched various attempts to try and address the problem with varying degrees of success.

Since coming to power in 1997 the Labour Government has likewise made efforts to deal with the issue. The current level of determination to reduce the regulatory burden was stated in the 2001 Labour Party’s business manifesto ‘The Best Place To Do Business’. This announced the government’s intention to ‘deregulate where desirable and regulate with as light a touch as possible’.

The Prime Minister’s resolve to tackle this issue has been underlined by, amongst other things, his personal involvement in regular consultation with business in order to take soundings as to how well the Government is progressing in meeting its aims. In this vein, in early 2001 Mr. Blair met with representatives from a number of the UK’s major corporations and business organisations, to listen to and discuss their views regarding ‘red tape’ and the need to reduce the burden of regulation on business. In accordance with a manifesto pledge to introduce high quality business secondees to the Cabinet Office and in response to concerns expressed at that meeting, he invited the attendees to nominate suitable employees for secondment in order to focus on reducing the impact of regulation on the private sector.

The Business Regulation Team was established as a direct result of the Prime Minister’s intervention to recruit private sector secondees, three of whom form the core of the team.