A key outcome of the NSW Jobs Summit was a commitment to cut red tape by $500 million by June 2011.

To achieve this, agency CEOs will have red tape reduction included as a condition in their performance contracts.  Beginning in July 2009, agency CEOs will report twice a year to the Better Regulation Office on achievements in cutting red tape over the past six months, and plans for red tape reduction over the next six months.

The Premier has issued a Memorandum formally advising Ministers and agency CEOs of their responsibilities in meeting the commitment.

Information received from agencies will be used to report regularly on progress in meeting the target through this newsletter and in the Better Regulation Offices Annual Update.  The next Annual Update is expected to be released in October 2009.  Progress will also be reported on the Office's website.

The Better Regulation Office has completed a review of licensing in eleven occupations in NSW and the Government has agreed to the recommendations in the final report.

The review will result in the scrapping of seven occupational licences which will save more than $1 million per year in compliance costs.

The Occupational Licensing Legislation Amendment (Regulatory Reform) Bill 2009 was introduced into Parliament on 4 June 2009.  Once the Bill is passed by Parliament, flooring contractors, kit home suppliers, building consultants and mechanical services contractors will no longer need to obtain a licence under the Home Building Act 1989 to work in NSW. Licensing for optical dispensers will be removed from 1 July 2010.

The Government agreed to retain licensing for motor vehicle repairers, strata managers, structural landscapers and wool, hide and skin dealers.

Two licence classes in the entertainment industry will be removed once the Government has completed a comprehensive review of the Entertainment Industry Act 1989 and implemented reforms which ensure other protections for performers are operating efficiently and effectively. An Options Paper has been released for public consultation and submissions are invited until 3 August 2009.

The final report and the entertainment industry review Options Paper can be found on the Better Regulation Office website.

The Department of Planning and the Better Regulation Office are conducting a joint review into the impacts of the planning system on competition to ensure it achieves the right balance between achieving sustainable social and environmental outcomes and promoting a competitive business environment.

The review stems from recommendations contained in recent Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Productivity Commission reviews, and work being undertaken by the Council of Australian Governments Business Regulation and Competition Working Group.

The review will identify aspects of the NSW planning system that support or constrain competition and investment, investigate the impact of those effects, and develop practical solutions to any identified problems.

A discussion paper was released in May 2009 and submissions closed on 12 June 2009.  The discussion paper is available on the Better Regulation Office website.

A final report containing recommendations to the NSW Government will be released in late 2009.

On 12 June 2009, the Better Regulation Office and the Department of Water and Energy released the findings of a joint review of plumbing and drainage regulations in NSW, aimed at cutting red tape for plumbers.

A discussion paper was released in November last year calling for submissions on the current arrangements and possible models for reform.

The review found that the current institutional and technical arrangements for plumbing in NSW are complex and unnecessarily costly.  Currently, there are over 100 separate regulators covering plumbing and drainage activities in NSW, each able to impose different technical requirements. Concerns had been raised that this approach led to inconsistency and uncertainty, which meant cost for businesses, consumers and government.  In extreme cases, this could result in technical requirements being different from one end of a street to the other.

The review report sets out nine recommendations to reduce cost, simplify and update regulations and bring NSW into line with national standards. The report has been endorsed by the NSW Government and implementation of the recommendations will lead to a simpler, more efficient and more effective plumbing and drainage regulatory framework.

The Office of Fair Trading will become the single NSW agency responsible for plumbing, and the Plumbing Code of Australia will replace the 100+ different sets of rules around NSW. A government implementation group has been set up to work closely with industry to have the new arrangements in place by mid 2010.

The review report and related material is available on the Better Regulation Office website.

In response to the review of Licensing of Selected Occupations, the Government has agreed to remove entertainment industry licences, but only after a broad review of the Entertainment Industry Act 1989 and the implementation of reforms which ensure other protections for performers are operating efficiently and effectively. The review is being conducted by the Better Regulation Office and the Office of Industrial Relations.

The review will consider changes to the Act to provide effective sanctions for breach of consumer protection provisions, a clear mechanism for dealing with complaints, and the development of performance standards for assessing claims of misconduct.

An Options Paper has been released for public consultation and submissions are invited until 3 August 2009. The Options Paper can be found on the Better Regulation Office website.

In NSW, an electricity customer seeking to connect to an electricity distribution network can choose a service provider to do the connection work, along with a range of other jobs also considered to be contestable services. The current regulatory framework sets up a scheme to authorise service providers to do the work and sets out the type of work they can do. The Better Regulation Office has commenced a review of this approach to ensure that it is working efficiently and maximising competitive benefit in the market for electricity distribution network services.

The review is looking at the operation of the accreditation scheme run by the Office of Fair Trading (the Accredited Service Providers Scheme). It is also considering the range of work that is contestable, particularly whether certification of design work and inspection of customer connection services, network extension or network augmentation for technical compliance should be made contestable. The review will focus on opportunities to reduce delay and cost for consumers, as well as minimising regulatory burden and red tape for industry.

An issues paper setting out the background to the review and a number of different options for reform is available on the Better Regulation Office website. Comments on the issues paper are being sought until 7 August 2009.

By assessing all regulatory proposals against the better regulation principles, the Better Regulation Office is able to influence proposals as they are being developed and the Minister for Regulatory Reform can take his views on the merits of a proposal to Cabinet.  This leads to improved regulatory outcomes, with many proposals being modified to minimise costs to business or required to undertake further consultation.

During the June 2009 quarter, the Better Regulation Office reviewed 39 Cabinet Minutes, making a substantive contribution on 7 of those. 35 Executive Council Minutes and 7 Better Regulation Statements were also assessed by the Office.

Further information on the NSW gatekeeping arrangements is available on the Better Regulation Office website.

The NSW Premier has announced major reforms to the structure of the NSW Public Service, creating 13 super departments to cover the activities of up to 160 state government agencies.

The changes represent the biggest shake-up of the NSW public sector in more than 30 years and will create benefits for business and the wider community.

The reforms are designed to ensure a greater focus on clients and to deliver better services for the NSW community by freeing up resources for frontline services.

The reforms will provide a better integration and alignment of public services, streamline decision making by cutting internal government red tape through reduced overlap and barriers between agencies and deliver administrative efficiencies.

The NSW Premiers media release on the changes is available.

The NSW Government continues to meet its commitment to implement the recommendations made by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in its Investigation into the Burden of Regulation in NSW and Improving Regulatory Efficiency (October 2006).

In April 2009, the Minister for Regulatory Reform released the third progress report.  The report shows that the Government has implemented 49 of the 74 recommendations and that all of the remaining recommendations are on-track to be delivered. It is anticipated that several of these will be completed over coming months, while others will be addressed through longer-term processes, including those requiring cross-jurisdictional action.

The next progress report will be released in October 2009.

For more information, go to Implementing IPART Recommendations