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chancellor will unveil plans to eliminate paperwork and reduce red tape for thousands of UK businesses, claiming firms will save around £6 billion a year as part of the changes.
Rachel Reeves Set to launch “Action on Unnecessary Form Filling” at Regional Investment Summit in U.S. birmingham on Tuesday, according to the Treasury.
In her speech, the Chancellor will confirm plans to create simpler corporate reporting rules to reduce administration time and costs for more than 100,000 UK businesses.
This will include removing the need for small business owners to submit lengthy directors reports to Companies House.
The scheme will also roll out digital verification to speed up the processes, wherein developers can send photo evidence to authorities online, after which these will be approved by trained artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Ms Reeves will tell the summit: “Our mission is clear: creating the right environment for investment through our regulatory reforms, increasing capital through our public financial institutions, breaking down silos to collaborate on local projects, and supporting innovation and growth across the UK.”
Government Earlier this year a promise was made to reduce the administrative costs of regulation by 25% by the end of Parliament.
Ms Reeves will say on Tuesday the target would save UK companies around £6 billion a year.
The latest plans, including red tape cuts announced since March, are expected to contribute £1.5 billion to the savings target.
This comes on top of previous commitments to eliminate regulation that restricts certain industries.
The Chancellor’s “Leeds reform”, unveiled in July, promised to be the biggest package of changes to regulation on the financial sector in a decade.
This included reforming bank ring-fencing arrangements and reducing burdensome regulation in the city to reintroduce “informed risk-taking” into the financial system.
The government is pushing forward reforms to the planning system to help “bring manufacturing back to Britain”.
Meanwhile, Ms Reeves will also tell business leaders and investors at the summit that the Government will invest millions of dollars in regional development projects.
This includes Welltower’s £6.5 billion investment, creating thousands of new beds in elderly facilities.
In addition, the Crown Estate has acquired land at Harwell East, next to the UK’s leading science centre, with the potential to build new laboratory and manufacturing space and up to 400 homes.
The National Wealth Fund will also provide £104 million to finance onshore and offshore wind projects in Norfolk and Orkney, as well as building a heat network in Hull.
Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said the plans would be welcomed by businesses, many of which are “currently planning to raise prices” amid cost pressures.
“Unnecessary red tape and bureaucratic burden increases their costs and hurts competitiveness,” he said.
“Now is the time to boost growth, and changes like this can help. There will be a need to consult with companies to ensure that any initiatives have maximum impact.”
David Postings, Industry Group Chief Executive uk financeSaid: “We fully support the government’s aim to cut regulatory compliance costs by a quarter, and we are encouraged by the work the financial services regulator is already doing to deliver this ambition.”
The Liberal Democrats called on the government to push ahead with the EU-UK customs union, cancel the increase in employer national insurance contributions and make changes to business rates.
Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “If the Chancellor were serious about cutting red tape she would tackle the two billion extra business paperwork created by Brexit by pushing forward an ambitious UK-EU customs union.
“In itself, cutting unnecessary paperwork regulations will do little to reverse the trend of shop closures and the impact on jobs.”