Business Secretary Vince Cable has recently given further details on the first phase of the Government’s plan to cut down on unnecessary business regulations.

Under the new plan, a number of new initiatives will be put into place, including:

• All regulations inherited from the last government which are yet to be implemented will be placed under immediate review.
• The creation of a new “challenge group” which will devise new strategies to “achieving social and environmental goals in a non-regulatory way”.
• The establishment of a Cabinet “Star Chamber”, intended to spearhead the Government’s drive to reduce business regulation.
• The introduction of a “one-in, one-out” policy, meaning that new regulations can only be instituted after existing regulations have been cut.

Also known as the Reducing Regulation Committee, the Star Chamber has now had its first meeting, launching the “Your Freedom” campaign which will seek to canvas opinion from both employers and employees on how regulations can be reduced.

Vince Cable, who also chairs the Star Chamber, announced: “This committee, along with the new “challenge group”, will help change the culture of government and find new ways of solving problems, reducing the red tape that is strangling enterprise.”

The new campaign has already been welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses, with their Policy Chairman Mike Cherry commenting that: “Giving the public and business owners the chance to shape the regulation and legislation which directly affects them is a welcome move by the Government.”