Niall Stuart argues that Scotland's commercial community is being hamstrung by bureaucracy
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Scotland's businesses are increasingly fed up with the amount of regulation and red tape they have to deal with. According to Scottish Enterprise research, in the last few years we have seen regulation climb to become the second biggest concern of Scotland's business owners.
Whilst government and business will never agree about the appropriate amount of regulation, most commentators recognise that the time being spent by business owners dealing with forms and rules is starting to impact on business growth.
That's why the Prime Minister has pledged to measure and cut the impact of regulation on business, and in Brussels the European Commission has ordered a review of all legislation and new impact assessments. But in Scotland we are really being left behind: all we have are a few civil servants tasked with 'encouraging' their colleagues to look at how new policies will affect business.
Scottish ministers excuse this by saying that the laws impacting on business come from Westminster and Europe, but what about the Scottish Parliament's powers over smoking, licensing, bankruptcy, building regulations and planning?
With new laws in these areas impacting directly on business, it's time to ensure that civil servants actually get out from behind their desks and speak to real businesses to see how new legislation will affect them, and for the Parliament to review legislation to ensure that it is working.
We're not talking about ripping up Health and Safety laws, or Trading Standards conventions, which business people understand are there to protect staff and consumers; we just want to see an end to employers' time and resources being taken for granted.
Ultimately, every hour spent by a business dealing with unnecessary administration or procedures means less time for marketing the business, developing products or training staff. And less time invested in business growth means poorer prospects for employees, and worse services for consumers like you and me.
Niall Stuart is press and parliamentary officer of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland
