Business Link highlights October business regulation changes

Changes to business focused legislation are now brought in twice a year in an attempt by government to create a more predictable regulatory burden, if no less heavy some would argue. The next ‘Common Commencement Date’ is October 1 2008. 

Details of the changes to be introduced can be found on the Business Link website.  In fact this type of practical, albeit rather dry advice is one of the best elements of the oft criticised government service which provides information for businesses large and small.

It’s something that Business Link itself recognises.  As Doug Robinson head of content for the website says:

Clear guidance on regulations is one of the many benefits businesses get from using the site. We know that this is important information which users value, particularly this alert on new regulations.

Last week the Department for Business (BERR) was also plugging a Business Link website service as part of its ‘Employing People’ campaign designed to reduce the cost to business of implementing employment legislation.

The section highlighted allows employers to fill in some basic questions and create a standard employment contract from scratch.

Useful for the basics and indeed money saving – as BERR and none other than employment relations minister Pat McFadden says, businesses can save around £120 a time rather than going to external advisers.

I’m all for small businesses avoiding unnecessary costs, but was a little surprised to see a minister positioning a government body in competition with the private sector.

This piqued my interest particularly as I’d understood Business Link on the ground was going to increasingly become a central hub for sign-posting business to external advisers.

So I asked the question of the BERR PRs last week and only today got some additional briefing, accepting that there was a role for others to provide more detailed advice, and the following stone wall:

Unfortunately there is not a spokesperson we can put up for you to speak to

Unsurprising perhaps, but with Business Link’s reputation sometimes taking a hammering politically and from businesses themselves, it’s a little bemusing that they’re not more willing to engage. Particularly on a subject where I think they actually have a strong story to tell.