The NFU will be directly involved with new Defra plans to bring real deregulation benefits for farm businesses.
Defra’s simplification plan: “Maximising Outcomes, Minimising Burdens” launched by the Prime Minister on Monday aims to cut administrative costs on businesses by £159 million by 2010 – a reduction of 30 per cent of the estimated £527m total.
The NFU welcomes the plan which sets out to:
• Identify ways of reducing the administrative burden of business
• Promote a better understanding of the objectives of regulations
• Challenge Defra to think of alternative ways of achieving policy objectives
• And improve the process of ministerial challenge of new Regulation in Defra, with direct CBI and NFU involvement.
The report wants to see a move towards risk-based regulation and provide better service to businesses by using the whole farm approach. This helps to reduce the number of times the same data is given to the department by using its new one-stop IT system which has been designed to share information across Defra and its family of regulators.
Work to reduce the number of regulators is already underway, seeing the formation of Natural England which amalgamated three Defra bodies, with more changes expected before the Department’s 2009 deadline.
Speaking after the report’s launch at Number Ten, NFU President Peter Kendall said: “We are pleased to be involved with this move towards reducing regulatory burdens, not only for our farmer members but for business across the board. The number of new regulations that we know are in the pipeline in the EU will make the challenge of reducing the regulatory burden all the more difficult.
“However in an increasingly complex and time-poor business environment I particularly welcome a more open minded approach to regulation reflected in this report. It is not just costs alone that need mean regulations are squeezing the life-blood out of farm business but also the time is takes to complete forms and the lack of clarity about why these regulations matter to farming.
“The NFU will do all it can to contribute to helping Government regulate better for the industry, especially where this will give fuller recognition of farmers who operate responsibly. We believe our system of farm assurance schemes and projects such as the Voluntary Initiative on pesticides show how we as an industry can take steps to own a potential problem and, more importantly, find innovative ways of addressing it. A risk-based approach, as outlined by Defra today, should reward such action”
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