The NI Executive was keen for the review to look to improve the regulatory landscape in Northern Ireland, and reduce unnecessary burden where it may exist for businesses. The team relied heavily on positive engagement with business representative bodies, businesses and NI departments and regulators.
Outcome
Main recommendations
The six main recommendations within the report are:
- appoint an independent Better Regulation Champion
- adopt a regulatory budget scheme to manage the flow of regulations
- progress sector specific reviews in a rolling programme
- improvements to the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) process, including the appointment of an independent scrutiny committee to provide opinion on departmental RIAs
- publish an annual statement on regulation
- revitalise the regulators forum
Final reports
For more information about the recommendations, read the final report, 'Making Life Simpler: Improving Business Regulation in NI' and Better Regulation: An Action Plan for Reform”:
Unfortunately, due to the collapse of the NI Assembly in 2017 and the re-prioritising of resources due to restricted budgets for new works the implementation of the Better Regulation Action Plan has not been approved.
Research reports