Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

1 To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the date in 2012 that marks the deadline for reaching the 25% administrative burden reduction target; if it is anticipated that his Department will reach that target; the way Ireland compares to other EU countries in reaching that target; and if he will make a statement on the matter?  

2   To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if in view of the 25% administrative burden reduction programme ending this year, there are plans either by him or the European Commission to launch a further administrative reduction target or a similar scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter?

Reply

My Department and its Agencies have already achieved a reduction of almost 24.5% in the administrative burden imposed on business; this amounts to annual savings for business of over €204 million. I anticipate that further measures will be identified that will see the Department meeting its 25% target by the end of the year.
Details of all the initiatives making up the total already achieved are available on my Department’s website.
Successful initiatives resulting in significant savings include:
– In Company Law, savings of €82 million per annum have already been realised, more than €33 million of which are due to the work of the Companies Registration Office (CRO), as companies can submit their annual returns online via the CRO website and can now use digital signatures for the B1 Form and Accounts.
– In Health & Safety Law, a total of €123 million in annual administrative savings for business has been delivered by the HSA via two key projects: the BeSMART online tool for preparing the Risk Assessment and Safety Statement (€59m), and the SMP20 Guidelines (€64m), which assist construction firms with fewer than 20 employees in establishing and maintaining an effective safety management system.
My Department also coordinates the cross-Government measurement and reduction exercise towards the 25% target by the end of 2012. A project to measure the burden imposed by regulation under the responsibility of seven Departments and Revenue was initiated in September 2011. Following completion of its measurement exercise, each participating Department must then immediately begin planning how it will achieve the remaining reductions necessary to reach the target. The first cluster of Departments are expected to report to Government with Simplification Plans by the end of this month and the remaining Departments are expected to report by the end of the third quarter.
Work is continuing to identify new areas where administrative burdens on business can be reduced and in this regard the High Level Group on Business Regulation has prioritised a number of areas for attention in its Work Programme for 2012.
I understand that comparable figures are not available for all of the other Member States in the EU. However, I understand that the European Commission intends to report on its own Administrative Burden Reduction Action Programme early in 2013. This report may include a summary of the progress made by all the Member States.
As far as a future EU strategy is concerned, we must await the Commission’s report and its proposals in the matter.