Press Release - Complying with regulation -
business perceptions survey 2009
22 October 2009
A survey of businesses by the National Audit Office found that,
whilst businesses are reporting that individual aspects of
complying with regulation have become less burdensome over the last
year, and there has been some improvement in overall business
perceptions of regulation since 2007, very few regard complying
with regulation as having become easier or less time-consuming.
Around a third said that it had become worse.
The Administrative Burdens Reduction Programme aims to reduce by
a quarter by 2010 the cost to business of complying with the
administrative burdens imposed on them by government regulations.
The Programme is part of the government’s overall agenda to
simplify regulation and improve the regulatory environment.
Departments are continuing to implement a range of initiatives to
reduce the burden on businesses and reported in December 2008 that
a net £1.9 billion per year of savings had been made. However, the
NAO warns that this claim must be treated with caution; although
the Government has strengthened its validation arrangements, the
reported savings remain indicative estimates of actual savings.
The survey found improvements since 2007 in businesses’
perceptions of individual aspects of complying with regulation. For
example, in 2009, 65 per cent of businesses found completing the
relevant paperwork a burden, compared with 74 per cent in 2007.
Similarly, in 2009, 64 per cent of businesses reported that finding
guidance and advice about the regulations was a burden, a reduction
of 7 per cent from 2007 responses.
However, over 60 per cent of businesses surveyed consider that
the administration needed to demonstrate compliance with
regulations is an obstacle and only one per cent of businesses felt
that complying with regulations had become less time consuming in
the last year. In addition, fewer than a third of businesses said
that government understood business well enough to regulate it.
The NAO survey has found that businesses’ perceptions of
regulations are influenced by concerns about the introduction of
new regulations or continuing changes to existing regulations – 95
per cent of businesses reported that having to keep up to date with
changes in existing regulations had not improved or had become more
time consuming in the past year.
Mr Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
"There is always a difference between perception and
reality but our testing shows that almost no businesses think that
complying with regulation has become easier or less time consuming
in the last year. The majority think that things have remained the
same and over a third think that the burden of regulation has got
worse. On the other hand, 42 per cent of businesses think that
government is getting the right balance of regulation to protect
people and the environment."
Notes for Editors
- Press notices and reports are available from
the date of publication on the NAO website, which is at
www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery
Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The NAO has published two previous reports on the
Administrative Burdens Reduction Programme: The Administrative
Burdens Reduction Programme 2008 (HC944) and Reducing the Cost of
Complying with Regulations: The Delivery of the Administrative
Burdens Reduction Programme 2007 (HC 615). These are available at
www.nao.org.uk.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, is the head
of the National Audit Office which employs some 900 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 52/09
All enquiries to Mark Anderson, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7558
Mobile: 077796 937 119