Parliament and regulators: How select committees can better hold regulators to account

The UK’s new post-Brexit regulatory responsibilities and powers are not matched by adequate levels of parliamentary scrutiny – with almost a third of UK regulators not scrutinised by parliament since the 2019 general election.

This report says a focus on high-profile regulatory controversies – such as Ofgem’s role in the June 2021 collapse of 29 energy companies or the Environment Agency and Ofwat’s response to raw sewage spills – leads parliament to take an overly reactive approach to scrutiny.

As a result, a clear majority of regulators are almost never examined in a meaningful way by parliamentarians on vital issues such as their objectives, performance, and plans to mitigate future risks, with regulators often only called in front of parliament once a problem hits the front pages.

The report has found that since the general election in December 2019:

• Less than a third of regulators (35 out of 116) have attended a dedicated, routine select committee hearing scrutinising their work as a whole.  
• Another 35 regulators – again nearly a third – have not been called in front of parliament in any capacity. This includes Social Work England and the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA). 
• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has given oral evidence 36 times and Ofgem 24 times, but the Food Standards Agency (FSA) only three times and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) just twice. 
• The Health and Social Care Committee – which has oversight of the largest number of regulators – has not held a general scrutiny session for any.

With regulatory failure a matter of clear public concern, the report sets out a series of recommendations to strengthen parliament’s scrutinising role. These include: 

• The government compiling – and maintaining – a public list of statutory regulators.
• The House of Commons Liaison Committee reintroducing a specific core task to examine the work of regulators for departmental select committees. 
• The relevant Commons select committee holding a general scrutiny session with each regulator at least once per parliament. If it does not, the committee should explain why. 
• Establishing a joint Commons/Lords Regulatory Oversight Support Unit (ROSU) in parliament to provide expert resource for both Commons and Lords committees. 
• The NAO doing more to oversee regulators, working with parliamentarians to determine how it can best meet their expectations.