All Themes
The Red Tape Challenge website went live in April 2011. In the coming months, we will publish online the regulations affecting specific sectors and industry on a rolling thematic basis (to encourage focused debate on the issues). Once you’ve had your say, Ministers will have around three months to work out which regulations they want to keep and why. Find out about how this will work here.
General Regulations: Throughout the process we are publishing the general regulations that cross all sectors – from rules on equality to those about employment. These six cross-cutting themes will be open for comment throughout the Red Tape Challenge process, but each will also have a window in the ‘spotlight’.
- Equalities (Spotlight 9 June – 30 June). Open for comment and the announcement made in May 2012 available here.
- Health and Safety (Spotlight 30 June – 21 July). Open for comment. Löfstedt Review announcement on 28 November.
- Environment (Spotlight 1 September – 2 October). Open for comment, plans announced 19 March.
- Employment Related Law (Spotlight 3 October – 26 October). Open for comment, plans announced on 23 November.
- Company and Commercial Law (Spotlight 26 January – 16 February). Open for comment.
- Pensions (Spotlight 19 April – 10 May). Open for comment.
Spotlight: Every few weeks we are publishing the regulations affecting one specific sector or industry – from retail to hospitality to construction. For each of these there will be a ‘spotlight’ window for users to submit views. Interested businesses, individuals and organisations are asked to comment on which regulations could be improved or redesigned, which should be got rid of, or which should be kept. A list of current ‘Spotlight’ themes is below. If the theme you want to comment on is now closed, please e-mail your thoughts to redtapechallenge@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk, and they will be considered by Departments as part of their wider deregulatory agenda.
- Retail (7 April – 10 May). Closed for comment, plans announced on 28 July.
- Hospitality, Food and Drink (6 May – 3 June). Closed for comment, plans announced on 28 September.
- Road Transportation (20 May – 17 June). Closed for comment, plans announced on 15 December.
- Manufacturing (21 July – 1 September). Closed for comment, plans announced on 29 November.
- Children’s Services and Independent Schools (26 October – 10 November). Closed for comment, plans announced on 16 July 2012.
- Maritime and Rail Transport (10 November – 19 December). Closed for comment, plans announced for Rail on 30 July 2012.
- Energy (25 November – 6 January). Closed for comment, plans announced on 07 August 2012.
- Housing & Construction (12 January – 17 February). Closed for comment.
- Water & Marine (17 February – 12 April). Closed for comment.
- Medicines (9 March – 12 April). Closed for comment.
- Sports & Recreation (29 March – 31 May). Closed for comment.
- Legal Services (31 May – 5 July). Closed for comment.
- Aviation (28 June – 26 July). Closed for comment.
- Civil Society (17 May – 13 September). Closed for comment.
- Insolvency (23 August – 27 September). Closed for comment.
- Business Services (21 September – 06 December). Closed for comment.
- Healthy Living and Social Care (6 November – 31 January). Closed for comment.
- Planning Administration (31 January – 7 March 2013). Closed for comment.
- National Savings and Investments – NS&I (8 March – 11 April 2013). Closed for comment.
- General Aviation Theme (11 April – 16 May 2013).
Disruptive Business Models/Challenger Businesses (open for comment): Government has now made an announcement in relation to this theme, publishing both the independent report from Mark Littlewood and the the Government’s report on Disruptive Business Models/Challenger Businesses. Click here to see the announcement and to download the reports.
We understand that new business models – particularly those that involve doing things differently – may fall foul of regulations that were intended for another age, or for another purpose entirely. We want to ensure that our regulatory system is fit for purpose, and is not holding back disruptive or challenging new companies. That’s why we launched this radical new Red Tape Challenge for Disruptive Business Models/Challenger Businesses – which remains live on the website for your comments. This is a powerfully radical process that will help not only to reduce the overall burden of regulation, but also ensure that we develop better regulation too. To view comments, visit here: http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/themehome/disruptive-business-model/
Enforcement (closed for comment): Lots of the comments on Red Tape Challenge have been from businesses about enforcement. It is clear that in some cases it is not regulation itself which causes problems, but the way it is enforced. We have therefore added ‘Regulatory Enforcement’ on the Red Tape Challenge site for 2 months as part of a summer-long drive to engage with business on the big issues in enforcement. This theme ran from 23 June – to mid September. To view comments, visit here: http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/themehome/enforcement. The announcement on ‘Transforming Regulatory Enforcement’ proposals is here.
