The Government wants to hear what's getting in the way of your business.

It has a consultation open until June 3 for members of the hospitality industry to nominate bureaucracy and red tape which should be cut. To take part, click here.

The government has promised that rules and regulations identified as causing problems for business will have to be justified by ministers and scrapped if no good reason for retaining them remains.

The industry is also being asked to suggest ways in which problems can be solved without intrusive official regulation.

Six specifically mentioned themes affecting all businesses are a prime target of the campaign. 

These are employment and company law, pensions, equalities, health and safety and environment legislation.

Former Whitbread Chief Executive Alan Parker has become the "champion" for the hospitality industry, with a role of ensuring that the Red Tape Challenge delivers results quickly.  He has also agreed to take on a longer-term role as Head of the Tourism Regulation Taskforce, ensuring that the wider barriers are tackled.

Mr Parker will lead a group made up of industry professionals who will action the feedback received during the Red Tape Challenge, and subsequently produce a report and set of recommendations for the Department of Media Culture and Sport and government to implement.

Tourism Minister John Penrose said:

"Cutting through the red tape is absolutely central to the Government's vision for Britain, and our plans to grow the economy.  We want to be the first Government in modern history to leave office having reduced the overall burden of regulation, not "We are turning the bureaucratic assumptions on their heads – from now on, the presumption is that regulations will be axed, unless present ministers can absolutely justify why they should be kept.  'Stand it up, or shut it down' will be our touchstone.  And that marks a huge transfer of influence to the people who actually live and work at the sharp end."