Manchester Solutions

Greater Manchester firms can now benefit from a one stop shop offering advice and support on dealing with regulatory burdens. In response to the needs of the business community, Manchester Solutions and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce have joined forces with the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, Warrington Council and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to launch a service that will help businesses and regulators tackle compliance issues head on and raise standards across the board.

Business Regulation Solutions is a new and innovative partnership that will provide a single point of contact to deliver advice, training and consultancy services to ease the burden of regulatory compliance.

The time, effort and expertise needed to respond to a whole host of regulatory issues is causing local companies major concerns as they go about their daily business. Compliance with health and safety, environmental protection, fire safety, licensing and trading standards laws is an ongoing struggle for many businesses who do not know who to turn to for help with these issues.

This  pioneering development has the capacity to deliver to over 50,000 businesses and is the first time so many public bodies have come together to deliver support to businesses in complying with public protection regulations. It is a move likely to be echoed around the country.

By maintaining high quality standards and ensuring that compliance on these issues is met, the partnership will instil consumer confidence in business and result in successful companies being rewarded with fewer inspection visits. Business leaders, who have been campaigning for more support in this area, have welcomed the move.

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Angie Robinson said: "This is exactly what our members have been looking for.

"They tell us, time and time again, that they struggle to get the advice and support they need to meet regulatory standards at the same time as keeping their businesses running.

"While food outlets, pubs and clubs will often understand the need to comply with health and safety or licensing laws, other small businesses struggle to keep up with the pace of change and this could leave them exposed.

"This service is a godsend to businesses, who now have a single point of contact to deal with regulatory issues. It has the added boost of the backing of the bodies who uphold public protection standards in Greater Manchester, which will give businesses a lot of confidence in the service."

Steve Pleasant, Assistant Chief Executive Tameside MBC, and AGMA Public Protection Partnership Lead said: "Businesses are not alone in facing a challenge to ensure they meet the standards of the day: we have to change and adapt in order to provide the best service possible.

"These changes will protect more businesses and their customers - at the best cost to them and Greater Manchester's council taxpayers, who ultimately fund these services.

"All partners are proud to support this new venture, which is the first time anything like this has been tried on this scale.

"If the result is that more businesses are helped to meet standards and the public has more confidence in the services they use, then we will have once again shown how working together can make a real difference in the region."

Businesses who would like to find out more about the support available to meet regulatory issues should contact the Business Advice Centre on 0845 608 3388 or visit the website at http://www.business-regulation-solutions.co.uk/ .