LBRO: National recovery could come from local councils
Printer friendly
The Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) has published guidance on ways councils can support businesses – and in turn consumers – which will be discussed at its forthcoming national conference.
The guidance demonstrates how environmental health, fire safety services, licensing and trading standards have an important role, with examples of issues such as work-related ill health, alcohol misuse, even taxi licensing, can be tackled in ways that promote prosperity.
Speaking ahead of LBRO's conference at the London Metropole Hotel on Thursday, November 19, its chairman, Clive Grace, said: 'The debate around the national economy has been dominated by sums so huge that they challenge our ability to comprehend them and put them in context.
'It is too easy to forget where the majority of our prosperity is generated: the small and medium size grass roots businesses in towns and cities up and down the country; and their local authorities can make a huge difference to them and how they prosper.'
LBRO, the public body for simpler local regulation, says local authorities can help boost local prosperity by making rules easier to follow and cutting the cost of complying.
Subsequently, its conference theme will be around forging a new relationship between business and local regulators. The keynote address will come from the Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform, Ian Lucas MP.
Among the key speakers will be Karren Brady, former Managing Director of Birmingham City Football Club, and Ipsos MORI UK and Ireland Chief Executive, Ben Page, who will chair a session on local regulation's impact on quality of life.
Clive will open the first conference session. He said: 'The value of simpler, more effective local regulation has never been so widely recognised and understood, and this greater awareness offers the opportunity for better working between regulators, business and consumers.
'The potential long term benefits of boosting economic prosperity and improving the quality of life for everyone are very significant. We want this conference to help forge a new relationship with business and consumers.'
- Login or Register to comment
- Add to a social bookmarking site
Editor's Manifesto: Tony,meet Bill - don't mention the mainframe
"In an attempt to do the famous 'Charm Thing' with a certain Bill Gates, Tony Blair “got all [his] terminology mixed up”. Whichever Oxbridge-educated candidate ends up heading [fill in appropriate temporal adjective] Labour come the end of September, let's hope they'll be worrying less about the right nomenclature for enterprise computing platforms and more about policies that might get some more wealth-creating industry back in the country.”
Read more
The Dispatch Box: What the UK public sector could learn from Europe’s social media savvy
Neal Perry, Country Manager UK, Ireland & Middle East, at EPiServer talks about how some of the UK's European partners are implementing social media to strengthen citizen engagement.
"Across the World, governments created groups to explore the problems and the potential for strengthening citizen participation in local government. They then reunited the ‘champions of participation’ from countries in every continent to identify lessons and how sharing this experience might inform and shape policy and practice. Social media is one tool where organisations can embrace such initiatives and is an especially effective one when it comes to engaging the younger public." Read more
Innovation: A step too far in the austerity age?
Complete and enter our draw to win a free seat at the e-Government Awards. The public sector is already perceived to be lacking in innovation, but is that a fair assessment, and what role could it play in helping the government meet efficiency targets? What do people working on the frontline of ICT in public sector organisations think? Take part and share your views
David Mitchell Smith, research vice president & fellow at Gartner, discusses Cloud Computing.
Source: Gartner