Government taskforce calls for widespread deregulation of tourism and hospitality sectors

January 25, 2012

A government-commissioned taskforce has today called for the widespread deregulation of the tourism and hospitality sectors, recommending changes to rules on planning and use classes, licensing, food labelling, health and safety, and employment.

Findings and recommendations in the independent panel’s report, Smart Regulation and Economic Growth – Seizing the Tourism Opportunity – include:

Planning

Both in the emerging National Planning Policy Framework as well as at a local level, there is insufficient recognition of the importance of tourism. This should be remedied.
Local tourism interests should be recruited to form part of neighbourhood forums and be part of the process that prepares neighbourhood plans for local areas.
Where possible, the planning system should be revisited (for instance in relation to heritage and use classes) to ensure that it functions to the maximum advantage for the sector.
The Good Practice Guide on planning of tourism projects should be retained.
There is a multiplicity of procedures required for planning permissions and other consents which can be usefully streamlined in line with the Penfold Report.
There is scope for adjustment to the Use Classes Order and/or the General Permitted Development Order to allow tourism-related development to benefit.
There should be a liberalisation of the current restrictions on change of use between Use Classes A1-A4 in order to allow for greater innovation in response to changing conditions in the marketplace for restaurants, food service outlets and licensed retailers. The Use Classes order should be amended to permit change of use from Use Classes A1/A2 to A3. The Use Classes order should be relaxed to permit changes of use from hotels to dwelling houses (Use Classes C1 to C3).
Fast track procedures, like the Infrastructure Planning Commission, ought to be available whenever they are beneficial to the industry and for projects of sufficient importance, but should not be compulsory.
There should be no need to seek planning permission to reconstruct premises affected by damage from fire and other natural disasters, where the intention is to rebuild on the basis of the existing permission.

Health and safety

Actions should be taken to minimize the time and costs of risk assessments, including unnecessary duplication of such assessments.
A consistent risk-based approach to compliance inspections, proportionate to the size and nature of each tourism business should be achieved. HSE and local authority regulators should be competent and properly trained to achieve this consistency.
Local authority regulators should follow the lead of the HSE and the risk-based approach which it has taken to regulation of health and safety. “This, however, needs to be undertaken on a nationwide basis as all too often interpretation is left to local discretion. This causes confusion, variable practice from place to place and no common approach or uniform standard of implementation.”
The promotion of the ‘home authority principle’ is helpful for larger businesses which are based in the areas of a number of local authorities. The overriding need is for sector-specific guidance on the application of health and safety legislation to businesses within the tourism industry.
Lord Young’s proposals for reform to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) should be implemented.
All local authority regulators should embrace consistent interpretation of regulations and guidelines. For example the new National Risk Assessment for Temporary Events should be promoted and the Association of Chief Police Officers acceptance of the risk assessment approach should be encouraged.
Proposals to allow appeals against local authority decisions to ban an event on health and safety grounds and to replace the Adventure Activities Licensing Scheme with an HSE monitored code of practice are welcome.
The government should withdraw the HSE’s proposal for extending cost recovery. Local government must invest more heavily in training its officers so that confidence in judgments is much greater, “thus ensuring that the new cost recovery system does not fall into disrepute”. A clear challenge procedure needs to be established for businesses which will avoid costly court actions as the only option.

Licensing

The Licensing Act 2003 should be amended to provide an annual date for all premises licences to be renewed. “The absence of a common payment date is a logistical nightmare.”
The requirement to advertise in newspapers is “bureaucratic, unnecessary and ineffective in eliciting responses from residents” and should be removed. “It should be sufficient for owners to place notices outside the premises”.
The law on persistently selling alcohol to under-18s is increasingly disproportionate and requires review. The regulations should be amended to reference intent to sell to those who are under the legal age. Where a mistake is made due to a genuine error of judgment about the age of a person, remedies such as an increased emphasis on staff training – achieved through the introduction of Training Orders – would be more proportionate.
The Licensing Act 2003 has made it uneconomic for some self-catering cottages, small hotels and B&Bs, holiday parks and attractions to provide alcohol to customers. The Elton Report recommendation of de minimis fees for premises where alcohol activity is peripheral to overall activity is achievable and should be implemented.
There should be an early review of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011’s requirement for all local authorities to review and consult on their licensing policies every five years.
Licensing authorities should be required to take overall responsibility for the distribution of all licensing applications to responsible authorities.

Food labelling

The range of regulations relating to food labelling is “complicated and confusing and difficult to find”. For the sake of clarity and to reduce confusion for businesses, these regulations relating to food labelling (both food and drink) should be consolidated into a Food Labelling Act.

Fire safety

There is a clear lack of national consistency across fire authorities, “resulting in huge costs across the tourism and hospitality sector”. There is a need for revised national guidelines for fire officers. This could include specific agreed standards for particular types of development such as a hotel, B&B, guest house or pub.
A derogation for small enterprises from certain provisions should be agreed, “with owners and managers being able to manage the risk flexibly, reasonably and proportionately”.
The Local Better Regulation Office should be supported in its efforts to bring fire safety within the primary authority scheme. The Health & Safety Executive should be given powers to ensure consistency of enforcement by the Fire and Rescue Service.
There needs to be clearer guidance on striking a balance between the safety of people and maintaining the character of a building.

The report can be downloaded here.

Alan Parker, President of the British Hospitality Association and chairman of the Taskforce, said: “Tourism and hospitality are really important to the UK economy. Together they are one of our largest industries and our third largest export earner. And it’s also a sector that is ripe for growth, with potential for a further half million jobs to be created by 2020.

“So there is a huge opportunity that everyone in the industry wants to be part of. Cutting red tape is one easy thing that the Government can do to help bring this growth about. Bold action from the top can save businesses time and money which, for many of the small and medium size companies in our sector, can represent a make or break solution.”

Tourism Minister John Penrose said the taskforce’s report complemented the work of the Cabinet Office’s Red Tape Challenge last year, which saw 60 out of 102 rules and regulations identified as being suitable for amendment or abolition.

The minister added: “Alan Parker’s recommendations are wide-ranging and challenging, which is just as it should be. Our task in Government now is to look closely at what he has suggested and see what’s feasible and what’s not.

“The Prime Minister has said that ‘a regulation should go . . . unless there is a clear and good justification for government being involved.’ This will be our starting point and I look forward to taking this work on.”

The British Beer & Pub Association welcomed the report and the government’s initial response.

Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds, who served on the Tourism Regulation Taskforce, said: “It is good to see such a positive reaction from John Penrose to the report. It has never been more important to reduce regulation and create jobs in our sector. Across the whole hospitality industry, this report provides a coherent toolkit for the Government to do just that.

“For pubs, the report rightly highlights key concerns, such as the need for proportionate regulations on underage sales that fairly reflect the huge efforts pubs are making in this area. Compulsory reviews of council licensing policies every five years are also a big cost burden, as is too much complexity in the licensing application process. Removing the need to advertise in newspapers all amendments to a premises licence and an annual date for licensing fees would help, too."

Simmonds added: “Unnecessary red tape is a huge drag on job creation in brewing and pubs, so I hope the Government moves quickly towards these reforms.”

Philip Hoult