HC Deb 25 May 2000 vol 350 cc600-1W
Mrs. Browning

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he plans to appoint a new Director General of the Office of Fair Trading. [123751]

Mr. Byers

A successor to John Bridgeman as Director General of Fair Trading is currently being recruited through open competition. My intention is to appoint someone to take over when John Bridgeman's term ends on 30 September 2000.

Mrs. Browning

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the cases where he has referred mergers to the Competition Commission(a) on the advice of and (b) against the advice of the Director General of the Office of Fair Trading. [123782]

Mr. Byers

The table lists all the merger cases that I have referred to the Competition Commission.

The Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT) does not advise on newspaper mergers. With the exception of NTL/CWC, all other references were made in accordance with the advice of the DGFT.

Merger referred Date referred
Trinity Mirror/News Communications and Media December 1999
Carlton/United News and Media February 2000
Granada/Carlton and United News and Media February 2000
Independent News and Media/The Belfast Telegraph March 2000
Air Canada/Canadian Airlines May 2000

Mrs. Browning

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will make a statement on the(a) role, (b) size and (c) powers of the board he is proposing for the Office of Fair Trading; [123750]

(2) when he plans to introduce legislation to change the structure of the Office of Fair Trading. [123749]

Mr. Byers

I have proposed that a new Authority for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) should be established to increase the breadth of experience and expertise guiding the OFT's work. Recent legislation including the Competition Act 1998 has increased the regulator's powers significantly. The role of the new Authority will be to work under the chairmanship of the Director General of Fair Trading to promote effective and competitive markets which benefit consumers. The Authority will have a minimum of five members. The Authority will have the powers currently vested in the Director General of Fair Trading. We will introduce legislation to create an Authority when parliamentary time allows.