HC Deb 09 July 1981 vol 8 c168W
Mr. Skeet

asked the Secretary of State for Trade upon what evidence the Office of Fair Trading concluded that there was a prima facie case for investigating the London Electricity Board and its alleged subsidising of retail sales of appliances and facilities out of electricity sales.

Mrs. Sally Oppenheim

Section 3(1) of the Competition Act 1980 gives the Director General of Fair Trading discretion to initiate preliminary investigations into practices that may be anti-competitive; it is for the Director General to decide what evidence should determine his choice of practices to be investigated.