Vince Cable's Deregulation Move: A Business Owner's View
The coalition government has pledged to set up a cabinet star chamber to oversee a rationalisation of business regulation, in an effort to make UK plc more competitive at home and abroad.
It's encouraging that the Business Secretary Vince Cable recognises that businesses need to be freed of some of the red tape that often entangles them. To make a concerted effort on reducing corporate regulation will be well received in all quarters, and help encourage a drive towards a freer, more unfettered entrepreneurial culture.
The challenges will be identifying which regulations can be relaxed. How are standards of best practice maintained if not regulated?
And how will this new star chamber drive and manage the culture change across all government departments so that policy development is consistent and integrated?
The opportunity is for Government to:
- Encourage business to embrace sustainable business practice in return for recognition, celebrating their successes, and giving rewards for those businesses that emulate quality approaches -- such as tax breaks or access to valued resources -â€" such as intellectual capital, mentoring and investment.
- Offer industry sectors opportunities to embrace proactive self-regulation for the benefit of society and the environment, in exchange for more streamlined, less burdensome regulatory responsibilities.
- Encourage a culture of personal responsibility, where success is achieved through collaboration not exploitation -â€" where citizens see the value of work, activity and employment. And, employers recognise the roles their businesses play, not only in relation to their markets, but to the wider economy, the environment, and the communities which they engage.