Business groups warn against axing ‘fundamental’ red tape watchdog
Some of Britain’s largest business groups have urged the business secretary not to scrap a body responsible for scrutinising business regulation, saying it plays a “fundamental” role evaluating the impact of red tape on British firms. The intervention comes as the Department for Business confirmed to CityAM that ministers are “considering the role” of the watchdog.
In a rare joint intervention, a group of eight industry bodies, including all of the so-called ‘Big Five’, wrote to Peter Kyle to warn against any move to abolish the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC), after reports emerged that it may be axed as part of the government’s deregulation drive.
“We view the RPC as a vital component of the UK’s legislative architecture, providing independent scrutiny of the impact assessments which should company most government legislation,” the industry chiefs wrote. “Whilst the findings are not always comfortable reading for governments of all colours, the RPC’s role as an objective arbiter is fundamental to the government’s… regulation framework.”
Independent view of regulatory impact
The RPC was established in 2009 to scrutinise government regulation, providing an independent view on the feasibility of the so-called ‘regulatory impact assessments’ compiled by civil servants alongside any new regulation. It evaluates the quality of analysis underpinning the assessments, giving each document a ‘red’ or ‘green’ rating, as well as a set of quality indicators ranging from ‘good’ to ‘very weak’.
But ministers are mulling whether to axe the arms-length body as they examine ways to realise Keir Starmer’s ambition for a “complete rewiring of the the British state”, amid concerns the Prime Minister is struggling to push through his policy agenda.
Last week, he used a speech to rail against a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers” who were using taxpayer money to stop ministers delivering on taxpayer priorities.
“People join civil service because they want to serve their country by delivering change,” he told staff at the consumer giant Reckitt. “Yet somehow – we take that energy, that pride, that patriotism, and we misdirect it into blocking . Well that’s got to end, no more. We were elected to take on blockers and deliver change and that is what we’ll do.”
But in a robust defence of the RPC, the group of industry chiefs warned the government against making the RPC a casualty of the drive, saying it “performs its role at minimal cost and on and advisory only basis”.
Business groups: Ministers ‘marking their own homework’
The business groups’ letter, signed by the likes of UK Hospitality, the Confederation of British Industry and the British Chambers of Commerce, also urged ministers to clarify their intentions amid concerns departments would be able to mark their own homework on the ramifications of a new policy.
Their concerns were echoed by shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, who equated any move to abolish the RPC as akin to “the Chancellor scrapping the Office for Budget Responsibility”.
“At a time when British businesses, particularly our small high street enterprises, are drowning in red tape, removing one of the few bodies which holds ministers to account for the cost of regulation would be deeply damaging,” he said.
A spokesman for the Department for Business said: “We are overhauling the current complex system of regulation to reduce the burden on businesses through the action plan we launched last year.
“We are considering the role of the Regulatory Policy Committee, but no final decisions have been made as part of our plan to increase productivity and drive economic growth.”