Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring the UK’s system of economic regulation to consider the long-term effects of price control determinations to quantify regulatory decisions into long-term policy objectives beyond that period of specific settlement.

As stated in response to the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) economic regulation study on strategic investment and public confidence, the Government supports effective mechanisms for setting long-term objectives.

For example, the Government is supportive of moves to consider whether strategic investments can be removed from economic regulation price control processes to increase the scope for new investors to enter the market and provide a wider range of opportunities for potential investors. However, this remains for regulators to decide.

The Government will also publish an overarching economic regulation policy paper in 2021 which will consider regulator duties, injecting more competition into strategic investments, and the benefits of a cross- sectoral Strategic Policy Statement. This should to provide a clear and consistent long-term and strategic direction for regulators