Government consultation on reducing 'Red Tape' ie. regulation

The government is undertaking a consultation aimed at reducing ‘red tape’. The consultation asks ‘which regulations are working and which are not; what should be scrapped, what should be saved and what should be simplified’.

Areas under consultation include Pensions, Employment, Equality, as well as Environment, Health and Safety and industry specific regulations.

Questions include:
Should the Equality Act 2010 be scrapped altogether?

Should the 50 regulations that relate to pension protection be merged with existing regulations?

How can employment laws be improved?

For more information and to leave your comments please see the RED TAPE CHALLENGE website http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ or search for ‘red tape challenge’

English Indices of Deprivation 2010

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published the English Indices of Deprivation 2010
http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/research/indicesdeprivation/deprivation10/

These statistics update previous indices, published by the Department in 2007 and 2004, using more recent data and provide a nationally consistent measure of multiple deprivation across local areas in England.

The Department would welcome comments regarding your use of the current Indices to help develop statistics that are able to best meet the needs of users.

Workplace Employment Relations Study 6 Instruments on-line

NIESR [ http://www.niesr.ac.uk/ ] has just announced that details of the design and content of the sixth Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS6), including copies of all five WERS6 instruments, are now available from the website of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/research/wers/wers2011

Fieldwork for WERS6 is now underway and is expected to be completed by Autumn 2011.

For more information on previous waves and data availability please see http://www.wers2004.info/