Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2012
226. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation the steps he has taken to reduce bureaucracy and red tape in an effort to protect and encourage employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42022/12]
View answerThe Action Plan for Jobs 2012 sets out a range of measures designed to stimulate the economy and encourage employment growth. Reducing administrative burdens has the potential to deliver cost savings and efficiencies for businesses which will assist them in growing employment. This is a key focus for my Department and its Offices and Agencies.
Significant progress has been made by my Department, with a reduction in administrative burdens of 24.8% already achieved in the areas of Employment Law, Company Law and Health & Safety Law; this amounts to annual savings for business of almost €207 million. Details of all the initiatives making up this total are available on my Department’s website www.djei.ie.
Successful initiatives resulting in significant savings include: In Company Law, savings of €82 million per annum have already been realised, more than €33 million of which are due to the work of the Companies Registration Office (CRO), as companies can submit their annual returns online via the CRO website and can now use digital signatures for the B1 Form and Accounts; The audit exemption threshold has been increased to the maximum level permitted under EU law. This will achieve potential additional savings for Irish SMEs of approximately €2.8 million annually; In Health & Safety Law, a total of €123 million in annual administrative savings for business has been delivered by the HSA via two key projects: the BeSMART online tool for preparing the Risk Assessment and Safety Statement (€59m), and the SMP20 Guidelines (€64m), which assist construction firms with fewer than 20 employees in establishing and maintaining an effective safety management system.
The reform of the State's Workplace Relations Services, that I set in train last year, will, among other matters, deliver a simplified two-tiered structure comprising a single body of first instance, the Workplace Relations Commission, and a single body of appeal, in effect an enhanced Labour Court. This new structure will provide a better service for both employees and employers, with fewer delays and reduced administrative burdens. Already there has been some significant early progress, including the development of a single complaint form for all workplace relations complaints, the establishment of a single contact portal, Workplace Relations Customer Services, to handle all complaints and enquiries, the launch of a single website, www.workplacerelations.ie, containing all relevant information on employment rights and industrial relations and the commencement of a Pilot Early Resolution Service which will seek to resolve disputes without recourse to adjudication or inspection. Work has commenced on the drafting of a Workplace Relations Bill to give effect to this new structure.
My Department also coordinates the cross-Government measurement and reduction of administrative burdens towards the 25% target by the end of 2012. A project to measure the burden imposed by regulation under the responsibility of seven Departments and Revenue was initiated in September 2011. Following completion of its measurement exercise, each participating Department must then set out how it will achieve the remaining reductions necessary to reach the target and report to Government with its Simplification Plan. Revenue’s report on its administrative burden reductions, which has reached the 25% target, has been published on its website.
The current overall reduction is just over 15% which includes the 24.8 % achieved by my Department, the 25% achieved by Revenue and a 30% reduction achieved by the CSO.
A further initiative, which will be of benefit to small businesses, in particular, has been the launch of businessregulation.ie. This new website provides a single online source of information on regulations and how to comply with them. Business will no longer have to search multiple Government websites to find out their obligations.
Work is continuing to identify new areas where administrative burdens on business can be reduced and in this regard the High Level Group on Business Regulation has prioritised a number of areas for attention in its 2012 Work Programme. These areas are currently being considered and will be published in the Group’s annual report later this year.
