Oral Answers to Questions

John Penrose Excerpts

Thursday 23rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare) (Con)]

1. What recent progress she has made on updating the statutory duties of economic regulators in the utilities sectors.

[The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kemi Badenoch)]

We are committed to bringing forward a consultation in the coming months on proposals to reform our approach to economic regulation in the utilities sector. This will include the outcomes of our review of the regulators’ statutory duties.

[John Penrose]

I welcome the bright and shiny new ministerial team to their roles, and I urge my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, as the new broom, to get this moving a lot faster. Some economic regulators are too expensive, too slow and too soft, so could we use the upcoming competition Bill to refocus them on sharper competition so that consumers get better deals and fewer rip-offs, because otherwise we will miss the best opportunity for years?

[Kemi Badenoch]

My hon. Friend is quite right. As set out in our policy paper, the duties and functions of Ofwat, Ofcom and Ofgem have significantly expanded since privatisation. I agree that the Bill would enable us to move more quickly, and I would like to work with him to see what we can do to improve regulation more broadly.