The heavy, heavy "burden" of regulation
The Companies Bill is currently going thorugh its Commons stages. I was struck by a point that Larry Elliot made in his column in yesterday's Guardian. In particular, this part caught my eye:
“A firm can expect a visit from Revenue and Customs once every 330 years on average and to be found breaking the law once a millennium.”
330 years. And yet still the business sector complains about red tape – persuading Brown to scrap the Operating and Financial Review (OFR) last November and is still campaigning to reduce the “burden” of regulation in the Companies Bill.
Not everything is going their way: this morning the Government conceded on an amendment tabled by Jon Trickett covering the issue of bringing a company's supply chain within the remit of the Bill - so responsibility cannot be sloughed off onto subcontractors, subsidiaries or suppliers. Great news, but the government is still opposing the other two amendments - on the content of the Business Review which seeks to reinstate important elements of the scrapped OFR by making reporting a director's duty - so lodging responsibility at the highest level of a company and on mandatory reporting standards - to create a level playing field.
If your MP is not already backing the amendments, contact them and ask them to do so. This is not a heavy burden, just asking companies to recognise their responsibilities.