The Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills today announced proposals to
strengthen the competition regime by bringing together the
Competition Commission (CC) and the competition functions of the
Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to form a single competition and
markets authority, improving efficiency and increasing clarity of
Government work.
These proposals are part of the Government-wide work to increase
the transparency and accountability of Public Bodies, announced by
the Minister for the Cabinet Office this morning.
This new body would be responsible for merger regulation, market
investigations, cartel and antitrust cases, as well as a number of
functions with respect to the regulated utilities. The move is
designed to strengthen the competition regime, streamlining
procedures, making it less burdensome and delivering cost savings.
A final decision will follow a full public consultation in the New Year.
The Government has also carried out a review of the landscape of
consumer protection bodies to rationalise their functions and
eliminate confusion and duplication, strengthen local delivery,
and produce a more effective service for consumers at a lower cost
to the taxpayer. The Government will publish a consultation early
next year with proposals to streamline and transfer the functions
of Consumer Focus, and other consumer bodies, and transfer its
functions to the Citizens Advice service. Most consumer
enforcement will pass to local authority trading standards.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
”Consumers are represented by a bewildering array of public,
private and voluntary bodies, which often duplicate efforts to
inform, educate and advise consumers of their rights. Our aim is
to create a simpler structure with a single competition authority
and a stronger role for front-line consumer services.”
Notes to editors:
1. The Secretary of State for the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills has published a statement outlining the
future of the consumer and competition landscape. You can see this
statement here
http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/consumer-issues
2. Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland are not mentioned
in the Public Bodies Bill because, as independent charities, they
are out of scope of the Bill. But it is proposed that many of the
consumer functions currently carried out by public bodies will be
transferred to them, subject to consultation.
3. Other reforms to BIS public bodies have also been announced
today. Full details can be found at the BIS online newsroom (
http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom ), where a full list has been published.
4. BIS' online newsroom contains the latest press
notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It
also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See
http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk