Themes and trends in regulatory reform
Themes and trends in regulation response [ 92 kb]
Citizens Advice welcomes this timely opportunity to submit evidence to the Regulatory Reform Committee’s inquiry on Themes and Trends in Regulatory Reform. In our policy and advice work, we see the impact of different regulators,’ methods of regulation and the effectiveness of these methods. The regulators we have most experience of include:
- the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
- the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
- Trading Standards
- Ofgem
- Ofcom
- Phonepayplus
- Ofwat
- The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA)
- The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate
- The Ministry of Justice’s Claims Management Regulation
- The Solicitors Regulatory Authority
- HMRC’s enforcement of the National Minimum Wage.
Citizens Advice is, therefore, able to offer a unique perspective on how consumers and employees in particular are affected by regulation and how the consumer experience in one area may vary widely from another. Based on this experience, Citizens Advice believes that regulation to date, whether principles-based or rules-based, has not understood and protected consumers and employees sufficiently.
This submission will cover the following areas:
- Regulation and the current economic climate
- Different models of regulation and how these work in practice
- What elements contribute to effective regulation
- The design of regulations.