Regulators (Hansard, 25 October 2001)

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he is taking to restrain the costs of official bodies classified as regulators. [9926]

§ Mr. Andrew Smith
This February the Treasury published an "External Efficiency Review of Utility Regulators". The purpose of this review was to give the Treasury, the utility regulators concerned (Ofgem, Ofwat, Oftel and ORR) and their stakeholders reassurance that each regulator is efficiently run, to identify any shortcomings and to encourage the spread of good practice.
The report concluded that the UK regulators are professionally run organisations. The regulators' positive response to this report will lead to further improvements in UK regulatory standards. My officials have discussed the implementation of the report with Ofgem, Oftel, Ofwat and ORR and will continue to monitor progress. Implementation of the report will increase transparency in budget setting, lead to better assessment of the costs and benefits of major projects, spread best practice, and help the regulators recruit and retain quality staff.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the(a) individual and (b) total costs to HM Government of official bodies classified as regulators for each year since May 1997, including predictions for 2002. [9930]

§ Mr. Andrew Smith
The utility regulators are funded by fees paid by the licence holders in their industries. With one exception for part of Oftel's expenditure, the regulators are therefore not funded through general taxation, although they are all subject to control of gross spending and the use of receipts through Estimates presented to Parliament.
The best single source of cost information in relation to the utility regulators Ofgem (energy), Ofwat (water), ORR (rail) and Oftel (telecommunications) is contained in the "External Efficiency Review of Utility Regulators" which was published this February. The full report can be found on the Treasury website www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pdf/2001/regulators 1902.pdf. (see "Cost Efficiency" section 4—Table 4.1).
Detailed cost information is published in each of the organisations' annual reports.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total staff costs in real terms; and how many staff were employed, by all official bodies described as regulators in each year since May 1997. [9927]

§ Mr. Andrew Smith
The best single source of staff cost information in relation to the utility regulators Ofgem (energy), Ofwat (water), ORR (rail) and Oftel (telecommunications) is contained in the WS Atkins report, "External Efficiency Review of Utility Regulators", which 373W was published this February. The full report can be found on the Treasury website www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pdf/2001 regulators 1902.pdf.
Detailed cost information and staff numbers are published in each of the organisations' annual reports.