I will champion the industry at the highest level, flagging up the vital contribution it makes to the UK’s flexible labour market. The sector brings key benefits for workers, hirers and, indeed, the whole economy - for the recovery and beyond.

As minister, I need to hear your views, learn about what works and what doesn’t and understand how my department can help you manage in these challenging times.

I am very aware that the regulatory burden has increased too far. The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, is chairing a tough new Cabinet committee with the job of reducing the heavy burden of red tape on business. The Reducing Regulation Committee has a fundamentally different approach to regulation and has begun a major review of all regulations in the pipeline inherited from the last government.

The Committee will ensure that there is a robust case for any new regulations. It has the unprecedented power to send burdensome red tape back to departments and also guarantees that all other options have been considered before more regulations are introduced.

I know the sector is particularly focused on the implementation of the Agency Workers Directive. I can assure the sector that I am considering the way forward very carefully. I am mindful on the one hand of the changes to the implementing regulations that employers and agencies would like to see.

And on the other, of the basis of the regulations on the CBI-TUC agreement of May 2008, which provides the legal basis for the 12-week qualifying period.

We need businesses to drive the growth our economy needs, not be tied up with form filling, and the government is determined to do all it can to make that happen. On that theme the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2010 have just been passed in Parliament and will become law in October.

Taken in the round, the new regulations will reduce regulatory burdens by eliminating unnecessary suitability checks when workers are placed in permanent posts - save for when the work involves vulnerable people. The new regulations will also crack down on rogue operators in the modelling and entertainment sector, banning up-front fees outright for aspiring models and significantly tightening the conditions attached to them elsewhere.

I am sure the vast majority of reputable agencies will welcome this - and the small additional cost the changes entail is more than outweighed by the savings that will come from the removal of identity checking requirements.

I can also confirm that an extension of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority scheme is not on the government’s agenda, and that we are committed to effective, risk-based enforcement by the Employment Agency Standards inspectorate and the government’s other workplace enforcement bodies.

David Cameron has stated that ministers are to remain in place for much longer periods of time. This will help ministers establish excellent working relationships across all their briefs.

I look forward to developing these relationships so we can work together to ensure a thriving, competitive industry.

Edward Davey, employment relations minister, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), London SW1H 0ET