Announcements

As usual at this time of year, as MPs start their holidays, public bodies start consultation exercises on a range of issues. This year, we are working on responses relating to: health and safety, with the Lofstedt Review of existing regulations, which links to the Cabinet Office’s Red Tape Challenge involving the Tourism Regulation Task Force, chaired by BHA President Alan Parker; a Department for Business paper on Transforming Regulatory Enforcement; proposals (Modern Workplaces)  from the same Department on parental leave, flexible working and the Working Time Regulations; the annual request from the Low Pay Commission for evidence on the impact of the National Minimum Wage; Home Office and Migration Advisory Committee consultations on removing the existing entitlement of non-EU workers to seek to settle in the UK after five years here; Treasury consultation on Chancellor George Osborne MP’s proposal to merge Income Tax and National Insurance, with possible impacts on NI-free service charge payments; also from the Treasury, plans to abolish the 15 pence a day tax relief on Luncheon Vouchers; a new National Planning Policy Framework for England, with barely a reference to tourism; the Mary Portas Review of the future of the high street, with implications for hard-to-obtain planning permission for restaurant use; a last-ditch effort to persuade Westminster Council not to introduce evening parking charges which will damage restaurants and other hospitality operators in the capital; and, though they’re a private monopoly and not a public body, Phonographic Performance Ltd, who are seeking massive rises in copyright fees for discos and similar Specially Featured Entertainment visit here. About a dozen good reasons for supporting your association’s lobbying efforts.