NAO - National Audit Office

11/18/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/18/2024 12:17

The role of regulators in a changing world

Due to popular demand this is the fourth year we have run a regulation webinar. This year's discussion focused on 'the role of regulators in a changing world'. If you were not one of the hundreds of people registered for the event, here are some of the highlights. You can also view a recording below.

What is changing?

The importance of regulation in achieving value for money for citizens cannot be underestimated. The lack of regulation in a sector can have severe ramifications, as we see have seen in the Grenfell Tragedy. To fill recent gaps in regulation action has been taken in a number of areas, including:

  • The Building Safety Act 2022 was passed into law
  • A Bill was introduced to Parliament in March 2024 to establish an Independent Football Regulator
  • The introduction of the Special Measures Bill this autumn to address concerns in the water sector.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Ofcom and Ofgem are all facing new regulatory challenges, and we were delighted to have these regulators join our panel. Below is what they covered.

Colin Macleod, Head of UK space regulator, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)

The Space Industry Act 2018 created the high-level framework for commercial spaceflight operations in the UK and is managed by the CAA. Colin articulated CAA's role in licencing and operation of launch, to protect people and life and the balance of responsibilities with other regulators. He spoke to the consequences of getting regulation wrong, and the challenges a regulator faces in trying to facilitate a sector and protect it at the same time.

Sheryl Willson, Principal - Online Safety Strategy, Ofcom

Ofcom was formally appointed as the online safety regulator, following the passing of the Online Safety Act in October 2023, which expanded Ofcom's role considerably to make it safer for UK people to be online. Ofcom worked with the government to develop the regulation, which imposes new duties on online service providers to minimise the extent of illegal content and content that is harmful to children. Providers will be accountable to Ofcom in its new role as the UK's online safety regulator.

Ofcom has had to scale up at pace, stood up a supervision team and delivered and published research on protecting children online, and all citizens. Sheryl discussed the challenges of improving scrutiny of social media platforms.

Neil Lawrence, Director of Delivery & Schemes, Ofgem

Ofgem are in a unique position of having a delivery arm within a regulator. They have 750 staff delivering £10bn schemes for people for renewable heat, renewable electricity and fuel poverty schemes. Individual schemes include Boiler Upgrade Scheme (opened May 2022) and the Great British Insulation Scheme (opened April 2023).

The delivery schemes have expanded considerably in the last few years, and Neil credits Ofgem's operating model with aiding Ofgem's success. These include: ensuring the model is clear on internal accountabilities and that its scalable, and designing digital in early with the customer journey in mind.

The regulator has set clear guardrails, and risk management programmes and the associated assurance frameworks to help the organisation pre-empt challenges. One of the newer challenges for the regulator - given the move into delivering schemes - is fraud prevention, and they are working with government to mitigate the risks and ensure that they protect taxpayer money.

Takeaways to leave you with

  • Regulators continue to walk the line between the harms that regulation is designed to protect, supporting the sector and focusing on the outcomes.
  • In a fast moving and complex landscape, regulators should be mindful of the digital challenges, media pressures, and be prepared to adapt quickly.
  • Regulators need specialist skills to assess the risks, engaging and understanding the industry, to take action appropriately.
  • Having a flexible operating model is vital and the ability to ensure you can provide different solutions for different challenges.

Watch the recording

Anita Shah

Anita has just sent this: Prior to joining the NAO Anita was a senior civil servant in the building safety programme at MHCLG. She was responsible for delivering one of MHCLG's top priorities to 'make buildings mortgageable and insurable' and delivered a measures such as improved transparency for leaseholders on their buildings and service charges; increasing the affordability and accessibility of professional indemnity insurance; and encouraging lenders to return to the market.

Her experience ranges across the private sector, local government, and central government, and across multiple sectors, both in the UK and abroad. She has also worked with a number of regulators, specifically in the energy markets, financial markets and the built environment.