Help us cut red tape

Image: Scissors cutting red tape

You were invited you to send in ideas about which pieces of CLG statutory guidance, secondary legislation or regulations should be removed to help cut red tape and reduce burdens.

You had lots of great ideas and we received nearly 700 responses - with 122 separate ideas for CLG to consider. Many were also raised in Your Freedom and Spending Challenge. 38 per cent of ideas are being taken forward and a further 45 percent are being considered as part of wider reviews.

Your ideas for cutting red tape

Some of the ideas that we have already acted on are:

Remove National Indicators (117 responses) - on 13 October we announced the replacement of the National Indicator Set with a single comprehensive list of all data reporting requirements for local government. This will also help reduce the data burdens that local authorities face. For more details read our news story 'Councils' red tape cut as 4,700 Whitehall targets slashed (see link right).
Remove Local Area Agreements (LAAs) - on 13 October we also announced that local areas would be put fully in control of their LAAs. This means an end to approximately 4,700 top-down targets for local areas.
Reform quangos - the outcome of the Government-wide review was announced on 14 October. For more details, read 'Quango reforms herald new age of accountability in Government' press notice by visiting the Cabinet Office website (see link right).
Review building regulations - this was initiated at the end of July. Further information is available on the Future of Building Regulations section on our website (see link right).
Review of grant funding - as part of the Spending Review, DCLG increased funding flexibility for Local Government by scrapping all ring fencing for revenue and capital grants from 2011/12, reducing the number of separate revenue grants to Local Government from 31 in 2010/11 to 4 in 2011/12 and only 2 from 2013/14, and devolving £6.7bn of DCLG's resource budget to Local Government over the Spending Review period.

Reducing more red tape barriers

We have also made some other changes to cut red tape and are working with partners to reduce barriers such as:

giving a commitment to give Local Authorities new powers to create certain new byelaws, or get rid of old ones, without seeking permission from Whitehall. For more details read our news story 'Grant Shapps: Bypass Whitehall and scrap outdated byelaws' (see link right).
withdrawing the statutory guidance on the duty to respond to petitions
committment to support further work through the Local Government Group's (LGG) Place Based Productivity Programme to identify and tackle barriers that limit the flexibility and freedom locally. The Department for Communities and Local Government is leading the work stream within that programme that is identifying and tackling perceived barriers. Further Information is available on the Local Government Group website (see link right).

This is not a definitive list.

Ideas not being taken forward

There are some suggestions which after careful consideration will not be taken forward such as:

Removal of the requirement to publish spend over £500 - Local people should be able to hold politicians and public bodies to account over how their money is being spent and decisions made on their behalf. They can only do that effectively if they have the information they need at their fingertips. Rather than creating a new financial burden, greater transparency and accountability will help reduce wasteful expenditure and allow councils to become more aware of best practice in other areas.
Review of Local Authority procurement rules - the legal framework is set by EU Directives: changes would need to be negotiated at European level and would relate to the whole public sector, not just local government. However, The European Commission is undertaking a review of the Directives prior to any proposals for legislative changes. The Cabinet Office is actively engaged with European commission in taking forward this review and would welcome any comments from stakeholders. The LGG, through its 'Place Based Productivity' programme, is looking at a range of productivity topics, including procurement. This sector-led programme aims to identify best practice and new and innovative ways to support local government and its partners in finding greater efficiencies. For further details see link right.
Review of the mandatory licensing of HMOs - We are keeping this proposal under careful consideration. However, the time does not seem right at the moment, particularly as this would require primary legislation.

Your cutting red tape ideas for other Government Departments

You also sent ideas for removing red tape in other Government departments. This made up 31 per cent of the overall response, including:

a review of Housing Benefit Regulation
a review International Financial Reporting Standards
the removal of Equalities Impact Assessments.

These have been passed to the lead department for their consideration.

Thank you to all who took the time to send in their ideas. They will help to make localism a reality by returning power to people, communities and councils.