Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, updated on 15 March 2018, whether his Department's public bodies team assessed the National Energy Systems Operator against the guidance that the creation of a new ALB should only be considered as a last resort; whether the Department provided evidence of whether alternative delivery models were considered; and which of the three tests outlined in chapter 2 of that guidance it met.

The National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) is a public corporation and is therefore not administratively classified as an arm’s-length body. The guidance entitled ‘The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies’ did not apply to NESO for this reason.

The NESO will support the UK’s energy security, help to keep bills down in the long term, and accelerate the government’s clean power mission.