Change is needed in order to “reap the rewards of rapidly advancing technology over the next decade and drive forward our Plan for Change,” UK Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told a techUK conference in London on Monday,

He said technology was a “force for good in working people’s lives, from drones which could cut delivery times for vital medical items like blood samples, or even takeaways, to climate resistant crops to provide affordable food in the face of floods and droughts.”

The UK government is working on plans to get rid of regulatory red tape that senior ministers say hinders advances in technology and innovation and affects economic growth.

The government had already introduced the UK’s first ever Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) last October which, according to ministers, “will sit at the heart of efforts to make the UK’s regulatory regime match-fit for today’s innovation era.”

Pressure on regulators

Monday’s announcement is the latest of a series of steps by the UK government in recent months aimed at putting pressure on regulators to change their approach and prioritise growth.

And Kyle reminded the audience on Monday the government was keen to fix the ‘imbalance in power’ that, according to him, has had an impact on Britain’s future.

“To deliver our Plan for Change we have to shift the balance of power, away from stagnation and old ideas, towards innovation and opportunity, and the bold people building a new future for Britain,” he said.

Other key announcements included:

• The ongoing installation of a new prototype hardware for quantum computing at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) in Oxford by tech company SEEQC.
• A further government investment of £23m ($29.6m) in cutting-edge telecoms research and deployment.
• An overhaul in how AI experiments and other digital projects are funded in the public sector, simplifying the process to cut down waste in taxpayer funding.
• The launch of market engagement, looking for the public-private partnerships needed to meet a 20x increase in capacity of the AI Research Resource by 2030.

Targets for regulators

As part of the government’s crackdown on what it calls unnecessary regulation, the RIO has now announced plans to introduce performance metrics for the UK’s regulatory bodies.

The decision to set targets is aimed at encouraging regulators to streamline technological innovation and attract foreign investment, the Financial Times has reported.

“To deliver our Plan for Change we have to shift the balance of power.”

Peter Kyle, UK Science and Technology Secretary

Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance was quoted by the paper saying: “That’s one of the things that the Regulatory Innovation Office is doing, saying, ‘what are the metrics which we want to see over the next year, two years, three years and so on’.”

He said one of the criteria to measure regulators’ success would be to see how many companies stay and grow and become sustainable after starting in the UK.

Last month, reports emerged that the government wanted to carry out an independent audit of the UK’s more than 130 regulators to measure their performance and assess their need.

Also last month, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds hinted that ministers were discussing behind-the-scene plans to reshape the UK’s regulatory landscape.

Certain regulators, such as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have already seen direct government intervention, with ministers removing its former head in January and deciding a new Strategic Steer for the watchdog in February.