The government on last Thursday has published an Enterprise Bill that backs business to drive growth, create jobs and ensure economic security for all. The Bill promises to tackle the scandal of late payments holding back many small businesses, ensure high quality apprenticeships, and make further cuts to burdensome red tape for the first time including the actions of regulators.
The new measures announced include:
- A clamp down on the late payment of insurance claims to help businesses recover faster from fires and floods.
- An update the Industrial Development Act to give new powers for government to fund new broadband projects across the country, for the benefit of industry or local communities.
The Enterprise Bill will also set up a Small Business Commissioner to help small firms handle disputes with larger businesses over issues like late payment, which costs small firms £26.8 billion. It also promises to allow the government’s ambitious £10 billion cutting red tape target to be extended to include the actions of regulators for the first time.
Encouraging businesses to invest in the skills of their staff is a vital part of the government’s plan to boost productivity in the UK. The Enterprise Bill includes a measure to prevent people passing off poor quality training schemes as ‘apprenticeships’ and will set targets for the number of apprentices taken on by public bodies. This will ensure the public sector leads by example and invests in a highly-skilled workforce.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The Government is committed to making sure the UK continues to be the best place in Europe to do business. The Enterprise Bill will help do just that with measures to cut red tape, protect high-quality apprenticeships and deal with unfair payment practices hitting small firms.
“I firmly believe that to reap rewards for working people across the country we need to get behind our great British businesses.”
The Enterprise Bill will also extend the Primary Authority scheme, which has already helped over 7,000 businesses comply with local regulations. The government is publishing proposals to open up the scheme to thousands more small firms and entrepreneurs. They will also make trusted regulatory advice from a single local authority available to all businesses across England and Wales, whatever their size. This will bring benefits to growth and productivity, and businesses are encouraged to respond to the proposals to help shape them.
Further measures in the Enterprise Bill will: make regulators report annually on the impact their actions have on business, put a stop to taxpayer-funded, six-figure pay offs in the public sector, improve the business rates appeals system and stop business ratepayers from having to share the same information twice with local government and the Valuation Office Agency
