UK regulators need to be more accountable to Parliament and the public. That is the key finding of a report written by the Parliamentary think tank, the Hansard Society and sponsored by DLA. In the past 25 years, a plethora of ‘arm’s length’ executive agencies and regulatory bodies have been established by successive governments.
This process has gathered pace in recent years with the move to create ‘super regulators’ such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom). Parliament has failed to respond effectively to these changes and has not adopted effective processes and procedures to scrutinise these bodies and hold them to account.
