Phil Hogan
Question:29 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will outline the specific measures which have been adopted under the programme of deregulation announced in March, 1988; and when the programme will be completed.
Written Answers. - Programme of Deregulation.
In March 1988, the Government decided to institute a programme designed to review statutory and information requirements which impact on business and industry.
The principal points of the Government decision of 29 March 1988 were:
1. Each Minister should appoint a principal officer in his Department to be responsible for this programme and to report on requirements which are no longer necessary or which can be simplified, including a timetable for such action.
2. The Industrial Costs Monitoring Group (ICMG) should establish a formal liaison with appropriate industry representative bodies.
3. Each Minister should arrange to have compliance cost assessments made in his Department of all proposed new, or changes in, regulatory requirements affecting industry.
Results of this Initiative
Since March 1988, the following work was undertaken on this programme:
Department reports were received by the ICMG from all Government Departments. These reports were assessed by the ICMG and reported on to the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
Following the ICMG's liaison with the industry representative bodies, industry submissions were received from a number of business representative organisations. From these submissions almost 100 separate proposals were considered by the ICMG.
The subject matter of these recommendations included the following areas: Labour legislation and regulations; Taxation procedures; Customs and Excise procedures; Planning regulations; Company Registration Office procedures.
Most of the proposals put forward by the industry representative bodies would have had a relatively modest impact, if considered individually; 54 of these proposals were the subject of recommendations by the ICMG for further action.
My Cabinet colleagues were asked to seriously consider the various recommendations of the ICMG with a view to their implementation. Of the 54 recommendations made, positive departmental responses were received in regard to 11 proposals. Negative responses were received to 23 proposals, while the balance of 20 proposals were being kept under review in the Departments concerned, or were not the subject of a definitive response one way or another.
Following communication to the various Government Departments of the requirement to introduce compliance cost assessments in regard to new proposals affecting industry, the ICMG subsequently reported to me that Government Departments were including such cost assessments in the relevant proposals to Government.
This programme for reviewing the impact on industry of statutory requirements etc. was completed in June 1990 when the ICMG reported to me on the overall results of the programme.