Environment Agency saves registrants £2m with online service

The business impact target (BIT) is a cross-government target for the reduction of regulation on business.

Under the BIT, the Environment Agency assesses the financial impacts on business of qualifying regulatory provisions (QRPs). QRPs are changes to regulatory practices that are described in a written ministerial statement.

The BIT assessments for QRPs are then submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) for validation.

The BIT was introduced by the government to reduce regulatory burdens on business; to ensure greater transparency around the impact of regulation on Business; and, provide greater incentives for regulators to design and deliver policies that better meet the needs of Business.

Quicker

According to the Environment Agency, the digital service for registering waste exemptions online was introduced to make online registration quicker, easier and more efficient.

Following its launch in March, the agency encouraged the estimated 70,000 farmers getting ready to submit up to 500,000 agricultural waste exemptions during the summer, to go online and register.

The Environment Agency said farms and other businesses which handle small quantities of waste or low-risk waste could save money by registering for a free exemption if they met the limits and conditions rather than paying an annual fee for an environmental permit.

The agency explained that the new service would replace the paper and e-form options as waste exemptions moved to being ‘digital by default’, making the process easier for farmers and other businesses.

Nicky Cunningham, deputy director of site-based Regulation at the Environment Agency, said: “As we get ready to receive thousands of waste exemption registrations this summer, we are recommending farmers, landowners and businesses submit online using our improved easy-to-use service. We’ve gathered feedback from those registering exemptions to ensure the process is now simpler and more intuitive than ever before.”

In March, the Environment Agency said following the role out of the new digital service, nearly 10,000 waste exemptions were registered by businesses. (See letsrecycle.com story)

• In contrast to the savings on the waste exemptions side, another Environment Agency action which saw tighter controls on metal recyclers and others handling waste catalytic convertors put the costs up on the businesses involved. This involved the removal of “low risk regulatory positions” allowing the storage, sorting and dismantling of waste catalytic convertors, and was found to have cost businesses an extra £2m since it came into force in April 2016.