Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether business appointment and governance rules apply to senior managers within Ofcom who are seeking to take up senior positions within companies regulated by that regulator.

Ofcom employees are not Crown servants and so the business appointment rules for Crown servants do not apply to them.

Ofcom has a robust and comprehensive conflict of interest policy, managed and regularly reviewed by its Executive Board, that upholds high regulatory standards of independence, impartiality and integrity. The policy and procedures in place enable Ofcom’s Executive to take swift and appropriate action should a situation emerge where an employee leaves to join a company that it regulates.