Government pledges to cut red tape in half

The Business Minister Jo Swanson has announced that around half of the 115 regulations that affect the day-to-day running of a business are to be scrapped, merged or simplified.

The move is part of the Company and Commercial Law Red Tape Challenge, which is a government project to ‘cut down the weight of the statute book by removing redundant legislation’ and to simplify that legislation which remains.

“The Companies Act is understandably a complex bit of law. However, there are many areas where this has resulted in companies unnecessarily being tied down by red tape,” said Swanson.

“Businesses told us through this bureaucracy cutting exercise just how time consuming some of the form filling is and how the rules they have to abide by are completely redundant. We have heard them loud and clear and are now taking action.”