INDUSTRY BODY
Phil McCabe, media officer, Forum of Private Business (FPB)
"Without doubt, excessive regulation is stifling small businesses in the UK. FPB research shows that SMEs spend a total of £12bn per year on red tape and are forced to devote an average of 37 hours each month to complying with the law. According to the research, employment law is the costliest bureaucratic burden, costing small businesses £2.4bn per year. Health and safety administration costs £2.1bn and tax costs £1.8bn per year. Much of this means time and money is spent on administration, when it could be freed up in order to help small businesses and the economy to grow."

COMMERCIAL PRINTER
Nick Faint, managing director, Redlin Print
"Regulation and legislation is there to protect the employer as much as it is to help protect the employee. If you use it in a positive way then you can invest in your staff and that's something that needs to be done as, in times like these, your workforce is your greatest asset and you all need to be rowing in the same direction. I see legislation as an opportunity rather than preclusion. There's never been a situation where regulation and legislation has precluded me from employing someone. It's there for best practice, but I imagine that if it wasn't in place then there would be some people happy to use that to continue to evade doing things properly."

PRE-MEDIA CONSULTANT
Sean Runchman, managing director, Tunicca
"Regulations can be a minefield and being a relatively young company we have spent a fair bit of time already making sure that we comply. The main concern with a small business like ours is that the more time you're spending on making sure you comply, the less time you've got actually out in front of customers and generating business, which is critical. Every minute of everyday is spent trying to generate business and making sure that we survive as a small company. So anything the FSB could do to help clarify and simplify regulations compliance would really help small companies like us."

COMMERCIAL PRINTER
Terry O'Hare, managing director, Stewarts
"The risks associated with employing staff may begin to outweigh a genuine wish to create employment. There is a danger that employment law and pension regulation will actually cost more jobs than they were designed to protect. Changing pensions legislation in particular is already resulting in businesses being put at risk. The ultimate irony is perhaps that ministers benefit from 30% increases in their own entitlement and public servants continue to build unsustainable benefits, while the private sector picks up a huge bill for a regulatory environment that benefits few except the growing army of actuaries, lawyers, accountants and independent trustees."