The bills in question are not invoices, but they could have vastly greater cost to business. They are the legislative “28 bills in 28 days” that were in the public eye as the First and Deputy First Ministers left office last month. Whilst the non-functioning status of the Assembly for three years can explain the rushed legislative timetable, it doesn’t excuse the torrent of bills on the ‘unfinished business’ list, with many coming from Private Members.
Of the bills that are moving forward in these closing days of this Assembly mandate, a number are causing real concern amongst the business community. The problem doesn’t lie so much in the spirit of the intention of the various bills, as much as in the speed and style of process where proper scrutiny, consultation and consideration of ramifications and unintended consequences is wholly inadequate.
Speaking about the concerns, Roger Pollen, Head of FSB NI said:
“The passage of the environment legislation in recent days, which will have massive impacts on huge sectors of our economy, has shown the process of law-making in a poor light. The concern about some of the numerous bills sweeping through was so great amongst FSB members that an emergency meeting of the FSB Policy Unit was held to consider those that might have major unintended consequences for businesses.
“Key amongst the bills causing most unease to businesses were the environment legislation, the zero hours contract legislation, the Domestic Abuse (safe leave) legislation and the Private Tenancies Bill.”
In the FSB Policy Unit meeting, members accepted that all of the issues are important and, if handled well with effective consultation, scrutiny, and impact assessments, could lead to good legislation. However, business owners revealed deep concern over the process that risks ushering in new laws which could potentially cause immense damage to SMEs – the sector that employs more people than all other sectors combined - so FSB has written to all MLAs to outline the issues and call on them to prioritise good legislation over quick legislation.
In conclusion, Roger Pollen said:
“If MLAs really want to garner respect for the Stormont institutions and deliver good legislation, they should prioritise these issues for the beginning of the next mandate to ensure proper process and scrutiny, rather than participate in an unseemly rush to get things passed in the final days of this one, without full knowledge or understanding of the potential consequences.”
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