Small business in the East of England could save up to £13m a year in time and money with better advice and support on health and safety.

A report published by the Better Regulation Executive examines how health and safety regulation affects low-risk and small businesses. It sets out recommendations to save them time and money, while improving working environments and general understanding of health and safety.

The report's recommendations include:

·     improved web-based and telephone support, offering advice as well as information, for low risk businesses;

·     better advice to help small businesses know when to buy-in the help of consultants for health and safety advice;

·     maximising the resources of HSE and local authority inspectors, making inspection and enforcement more efficient, focusing on higher risk work places meaning fewer inspections for low risk businesses;

·     developing a new, single assurance scheme so small businesses can have just one inspection to deal with a range of requirements, including health and safety, fire, food safety regulations; and

·     improving the perception and understanding of health and safety issues.

The average company spends around 20 hours a year, or more than £350 on administration meeting health and safety requirements. Cutting the time spent by just five hours per company would save low risk businesses £150 million a year, nationally. About 198,000 low-risk business in the east of England currently spend some £68 million on meeting these costs.

Pat Smith, Chief Executive of Business Link East, said : "In the current economic climate, we know that many small businesses are looking for ways to cut costs. By combining a reduction in the paperwork burden linked to health and safety regulations with the potential to save money, this review will be welcomed by businesses in the region."

Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton, said:  "The UK has one of the best workplace safety records in the world, with fatalities and injuries falling by more than 70 per cent over the last three decades. But the public and business community's perception of health and safety regulation is poor.

"Introducing simple steps, such as making information more easily available and getting better advice to firms that need it, will help save time and money for UK business. Cutting the amount of paperwork for low risk businesses, and making complex regulations easier to understand, will also help create safer environments for workers and the public.

"Inaccurate reports of the impact of health and safety on businesses and the public can be highly damaging. Putting the record straight on good, common sense regulation that saves lives will help cut the unnecessary costs that exaggerated fears can cause."

The estimated 1500 health and safety specialist consultancy firms in the UK, with annual sales of more than £1 billion, provide important services and support, increasingly to small businesses.

But the report found some firms are paying for support they could do more cheaply in house or going beyond what is required by the law, with little or no benefit in the workplace. Low risk businesses could save up to £140 million a year if 20 per cent turned to the HSE or other government sources for basic support on health and safety.

The report developed from the need to examine the broader working of the health and safety system, not just the regulators, covering areas that were not addressed as part of the Hampton Review process and focusing in particular on the impact of health and safety regulation on low-risk and small businesses.