Consultation Hub

We sought views on the draft Co-ordination of Regulatory Enforcement Regulations 2017 which include measures to ensure that Primary Authority can operate from 1 October 2017 when the scheme is extended and simplified by provisions in the Enterprise Act 2016.  We also asked for views on replacing the ‘categories’ system for defining the scope of partnerships.

We received 64 formal responses and also obtained feedback from around 240 stakeholders who attended engagement events held during the consultation period.  

Stakeholders were broadly supportive of the measures in the draft regulations. There was a wider range of views on the proposed new approach for determining the scope of partnerships.

As a result of the consultation responses and wider stakeholder feedback we have amended the draft regulations. 

We have also produced draft revised Primary Authority Statutory Guidance. This reflects and clarifies the changes to Primary Authority introduced by the Enterprise Act 2016 and the new secondary legislation. It also describes how the new approach to defining partnerships will work in practice. 

The full Government response is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/unlocking-the-potential-of-primary-authority

We invited views on how to improve the UK’s corporate governance framework.

We received 375 responses from interested parties. A summary of the responses is included in the consultation response document.

In the coming months we will introduce new laws to require:

• around 900 listed companies to annually publish and justify the pay ratio between CEOs and their average UK worker
• all companies of a significant size to publicly explain how their directors take employees’ and shareholders’ interests into account
• all large companies to make their responsible business arrangements public

We asked for views on proposals to simplify the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations. We also asked whether we should ban employment agencies and businesses from recruiting solely from other European Economic Area (EEA) countries without advertising in Great Britain.

We received 30 responses to the consultation. Respondents were in favour with the majority of proposals but felt that our proposal to remove regulation 27 (which determines the circumstances in which an employment agency can advertise a position) would have a negative impact on vulnerable people looking for work.

We intend to simplify the regulation for businesses while retaining protections for work-seekers. We will:

• remove regulations 9, 11 and 17 and schedule 6, and amend regulation 23 and schedules 4 and 5 which cover business to business activity
• amend regulation 27A to ban employment agencies and businesses from recruiting solely from other European Economic Area (EEA) countries without advertising in Great Britain

Due to concerns raised during the consultation we have decided to keep regulation 27.