Government focuses on civil service reform and regulating for growth: Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, has delivered a speech on plans to reform the civil service to increase productivity. The aim appears to be to increase focus and rewards for delivery and away from policy writing skills aiming for a state that ‘can move fast and fix things’, task forces to cut through / bypass bureaucratic hurdles and ‘innovation fellows’ are proposed together with a new school of Government. KPI’s for senior civil servants set and judged by their Ministers are also proposed. The speech highlighted that only 7 of 6700 senior civil servants are currently subject to performance improvement plans and that bonuses were too focussed on delivery of business as usual vs exceptional performance.
The National Audit Office has published a detailed report on ‘Regulating for Growth’ aiming to provide guidance to HM Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade in their efforts to implement an action plan to cut the burden of regulation on business for which regulators under their control are responsible by 25% by the end of this Governments term in office. The conclusions of the report are that the Departments need to be clear in setting out for their regulators their risk appetite articulating how regulation can support growth and manage risk simultaneously and acknowledge the trade off’s regulators face. The report also concludes that the Department for Business and Trade does not have mechanisms in place to track progress of its regulators against its 25% reduction target. Press release > National audit office >
Protection of UK food names: The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published an updated list of commercial designations (fish names) accepted in the UK including the scientific name for each species, its common name and any local or regional names. Commercial designations must be used when marketing fish in the UK and the EU and at the point of sale.
DEFRA has published an application for protection of the food name ‘Welsh Heather Honey’ published the opportunity to raise objections – Responses are required by 20th April. Commercial designations of fish > Protected food and drink names > Welsh heather honey >
Mandatory age verification checks for sunbed users: As part of its forthcoming Cancer strategy the Department of Health and Social Care has announced its intention to introduce mandatory age checks for sunbed users to prevent use by under 18’s. A consultation is to be issued in the Spring with potentially new rules in place in 2027. View >
