Regulation Review - IPART - NSW Government

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3 Identifying reform opportunities In reviewing the role of local government as regulator across Australia, the PC identified a number of leading practices. Some of these relate generally to how local government undertakes its enforcement functions, and others to specific areas of regulation. These areas include most of the priority regulatory areas we have been asked to consider – ie, planning, building and construction, parking and road transport, public health and safety and environmental regulation. These general and specific leading practices are discussed in the sections below. 3.4.1 General leading practices There are a number of general leading practices from the UK that the PC recommends be considered by state and local governments. These include the establishment of a Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO), a statutory compliance code for regulators, and a Primary Authority Scheme (PAS). These are discussed briefly below. A Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) An agency such as the UK’s Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) would focus on the regulatory activities of local government and have responsibilities and powers to implement, monitor, coordinate and prioritise regulatory activities between and within levels of government. We note there could be various options for hosting these responsibilities in NSW. These may include an existing state agency such as the Division of Local Government or under contract to the LGSA. 55 A statutory compliance code for regulators A statutory compliance code for regulators, based on the UK’s Hampton principles, would be aimed at improving the quality and consistency of local government regulatory enforcement and inspection activities to minimise the burden of these activities on businesses (see Box 3.3 below). 56 55 Productivity Commission, Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation: The Role of Local Government as Regulator, July 2012, Vol 1, p 72. At the end of 2011 the functions of the LBRO were incorporated into a dedicated unit called the Better Regulation Delivery Office in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. See: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2012/9780111517772/pdfs/ukdsi_9780111517772_en.pd f. 56 Productivity Commission, Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation: The Role of Local Government as Regulator, July 2012, Vol 1, p 13. 36 IPART Regulation Review
3 Identifying reform opportunities Box 3.3 UK Regulators’ Compliance Code - obligations of the Code: Economic progress – Regulators should consider the impacts of their regulatory interventions on economic progress, including considering the costs, effectiveness and perceptions of fairness of regulation. In particular, regulators should try to ensure the burdens of their interventions fall fairly and proportionately on small businesses, given the size and nature of their activities. Risk assessment – Risk assessment should proceed all regulatory activities, including data collection, information requirements, inspection programs, advice/support programs and enforcement/sanctions. Risk assessment involves the identification and measurement of capacity of harm and an evaluation of the likelihood of the occurrence of harm. By basing regulatory work on an assessment of the risks to regulatory outcomes, regulators are able to target resources where they will be most effective and risk is highest. Advice and guidance – Regulators should provide general information, advice and guidance to make it easier to understand and comply with regulation. Advice should be clear, concise and accessible. Inspections – Regulators should focus their greatest inspection effort where risk assessment shows a breach would pose a serious risk to a regulatory outcome and there is a high likelihood of non-compliance. Burdens of inspections from the same or different regulators should be minimised through joint or coordinated inspections. Information requirements – Regulators should undertake an analysis of costs and benefits of data requests when determining what data they require, and should consider varying data requests according to risk, reducing frequency of data collection, obtaining data from other sources and allowing electronic submission. Duplication of data collection by regulators should be avoided by sharing data. Compliance and enforcement actions – Regulators should publish an enforcement policy. In accordance with the Macrory Review, regulators should also: – measure outcomes not just outputs – justify their choice of enforcement actions year on year to interested parties – follow-up enforcement actions where appropriate – enforce in a transparent manner – be transparent in the way in which they apply and determine penalties – avoid perverse incentives that might influence the choice of sanctioning response. Accountability – Regulators should increase transparency by reporting on outcomes, costs and perceptions of their enforcement approach. Sources: Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, Regulators’ Compliance Code: Statutory Code of Practice for Regulators, 17 December 2007; and Macrory, R, Regulatory Justice: Making Sanctions Effective, November 2006, p 10. The BRO has also developed draft elements of good regulatory practice, based on these principles. These could also be considered as a basis for a compliance code for NSW regulators (see Box 3.4 below). Regulation Review IPART 37
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Regulation Review - IPART - NSW Government

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