The government has accepted most of the proposals made by former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine (right) in a report into growth released last October, but will not fully adopt plans to tackle the way that generally “fragmented, duplicative and often poorly resourced” trade bodies work in the UK.

In the government’s response to the Heseltine review, available online, 81 of the 89 wide-ranging recommendations are accepted either in full or in part, five rejected and three will be given further consideration.

Recruiter reported in January's edition of the magazine on the relevance of Heseltine’s review to the recruitment industry’s various membership organisations, associations and bodies, finding the idea for a lead association would likely face stiff opposition in this industry. Another such body, the Direct Employers Association, has since launched – see p5 of the March edition of Recruiter, out last week.

The proposal that the government and industry sectors “should jointly nominate lead trade associations to represent sectors in their dialogue with government”, is accepted in part.

The same decision is made of the suggestion that government should “should invite trade associations, through the lead associations for their sectors, to submit precise redrafting of existing regulations prior to wider consultation on any changes” to regulation relevant to their sector.

The suggestion that a single “lead sectoral trade association” should be invited to analyse and publish evidence on the potential impact of new legislation is also accepted in part.

Further recommendations to increase professionalism and compliance in trade associations, and develop an enhanced director of such associations, were fully accepted.