The Commission's final report on the groceries market published in 2008 (ISBN 9780117038547). In March 2009, an appeal by Tesco to the Tribunal against the competition test recommended in that report was upheld and the matter was referred back to the Competition Commission (CC) for further consideration, particularly on the costs and benefits of the competition test. The CC carried out further analysis on the effectiveness, benefits, costs and proportionality of the competition test. It now formally recommends that the Department of Communities and Local Government, and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, take the necessary steps to introduce a competition test in planning decisions on larger grocery stores. The competition test would prevent supermarkets' groceries developments, including extensions to existing stores, by retailers with a strong presence in a local area, to make competing developments from rival retailers easier. The CC modified the competition test, following consultation on its provisional decision in July 2009, to allow all retailers to make small groceries extensions to stores-one extension per store of up to 300 sq metres of groceries sales area-provided that the store in question has not been extended in the previous five years. The CC believes that this modification will not significantly reduce the effectiveness of the test but will recognize the fact that such small extensions, if prevented by the test, would be less likely to prompt a rival development.
As a result of the privatisation of many nationalised industries in the 1980s, independent sector-specific regulatory offices were established to regulate these industries to promote genuine competition and ensure companies did not exploit monopoly powers. Examples of these regulatory offices include Oftel (telecommunications), Ofgas (gas supply), Offer, (electricity), Ofwat (water services) and Postcomm (postal services). Other regulatory offices with slightly different regulatory remits include the Civil Aviation Authority, the Financial Services Authority, the Pensions Regulator, the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading. The Committee's report examines the statutory remits of the UK economic regulators, their working methods and working relationships, the value for money they provide and the extent to which the regulators have successfully promoted competition and de-regulated where possible, as well as considering whether they should be given an additional statutory duty to facilitate the competitiveness of UK firms. Overall, the Committee concludes that the legislation is working well, but that a greater standardisation of remits should be introduced over time to ensure all regulators are statutorily required to follow best practice. In most sectors, regulators have played an important role in helping to promote competition, with the exception of the water industry. The report explores possible reasons for the lack of competition in this sector, and urges Ofwat to take account of the general comments made by the Competition Appeal Tribunal on its access regime. It highlights the need for greater parliamentary oversight over regulatory bodies and recommends that a Joint Committee of both Houses be set up, or failing this, that a sessional Select Committee be established in the House of Lords.
BAA Limited owns and operates seven UK airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. They handle nearly 150 million passengers a year, and are a vital part of the country's transport infrastructure. In the light of the Office of Fair Trading's referral of BAA to the Competition Commission, to investigate whether BAA's market position was limiting competition in the UK aviation sector, the Committee set up its own inquiry. It particularly wanted to consider: the regulatory framework; the quality of service provided; the size and quality of investment; any consequences following the acquisition of BAA by Ferrovial; the implications of further runway and terminal capacity; how more competition could be introduced into the market. The Committee concludes that the drawbacks of common ownership outweigh the advantages, and identifies a problem with service quality. It believes that increased competition is possible, and hopes the Competition Commission will ensure a healthy, competitive airport sector for the future.
This report from the Select Committee on Communications calls for a reduction in the time allowed for advertisements on commercial broadcasting channels. Existing regulation of the market is no longer relevant in the digital age and doesn't serve the best interests of viewers. The Code on Scheduling of Television Advertising should be harmonised to level the playing field between public service and commercial broadcasters when Digital Switchover happens in 2012. It is the Committee's view that a reduction in the quantity of advertising airtime that broadcasters are allowed to sell would greatly improve the viewer experience and would be fairer to the public service broadcasters - ITV 1, Channel 4 and Channel 5 - who are limited more than all other commercial channels at the moment. All channels should be allowed an average of 7 minutes per hour, appropriate peak time maximum to be determined after research from Ofcom. The Committee has also looked at specific regulations which affect ITV 1, known as the Contract Rights Renewal undertakings. These undertakings should be removed as long as they are replaced with binding undertakings from ITV plc to invest an appropriate proportion of any additional revenues from advertising in creating UK originated programming and training. The Committee is calling on ITV's bosses to deliver on the commitments they have made to the Committee - to increase its investment on quality, UK originated programming in return for the removal of CRR and also to invest in training within the industry.
The Government's Future of Air Transport strategy aims to significantly increase UK airport capacity over the next two decades to accommodate the predicted growth in demand for air travel. New runways at Heathrow and Stansted airports are two of the key airport development proposals. If all the White Paper-supported airport development proposals came to fruition, current Government forecasts predict that the number of passengers passing through UK airports will increase from 241 million passengers a year in 2007 to 455 million passengers a year in 2030. This UK growth matches air traffic predictions for the whole continent. Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, predicts that European air traffic will double by 2020. If rising demand for air travel is to be met effectively through additional airport capacity, a corresponding increase in airspace capacity must be realised. However, a country's airspace, the portion of atmosphere above its territory and territorial waters, controlled by that country is a finite resource. UK airspace, particularly in the South East of England, is already some of the busiest and most complex to manage in the world. This will almost certainly require improvements in the efficiency of the UK air traffic management system.The Committee's inquiry aims to look at how to meet these challenges. Its findings are aimed at those organisations responsible for airspace-related decisions in the UK: the CAA, NATS, and the Department for Transport. Passenger numbers and freight demand globally have declined in 2008 and in the first months of 2009. In its conclusions and recommendations the Committee covered the management of airspace, strategy, change and co-ordination in airspace management, environmental impacts of airspace changes and European developments.
The Committee's report examines the European Commission's Green Paper policy document "A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy" (details of which are available at http://ec.europa.eu/energy/green-paper-energy/index_en.htm). Issues discussed include i) whether the Commission's three EU energy policy priorities (sustainability, competitiveness and security) and six key action areas are the most important priorities for energy policy and whether they can be fully achieved; and ii) the rationale for a single European energy policy.
This is the first report from the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications of the 2009-10 session (HLP 37-I, ISBN 9780108459290) and examines "The British film and television industries - decline or opportunity?". The report looks at how these industries have developed, the challenges they are currently facing and what practical help might be provided to enable them to develop further. The film and television industries make an important contribution to the British economy. They contribute to national income and employment, and make a net contribution to exports, which has the capacity to grow. Despite the competition from abroad, particularly the US, UK-produced content on film and television has a strong international reputation and makes a major contribution to the entertainment and education of British audiences. The publication is divided into 6 chapters and looks in detail at the following areas: Chapter 1: The British film industry; Chapter 2: A better future for British films; Chapter 3: British television; Chapter 4: Promoting British television; Chapter 5: Skills and training. With Chapter 6 setting out recommendations, including, in respect of television: that the Government should urge public service broadcasters to revive their investment in training; encourage the expansion of online video on demand; promote greater production of UK TV content by a tax credit or through the use of the proceeds of spectrum sale and sharing part of the BBC licence fee; expand the role played by BBC Worldwide in distributing UK content overseas. Recommendations in respect of film, include: new legislation specifically targeted at making the recording of a film in a cinema by camcorder a criminal offence; provide more support to smaller films and allowing British films to be partly shot abroad without suffering a financial penalty; encourage more private investment in film production. For Vol. 2, Evidence, see (ISBN 9780108459306).
This Treasury Committee report into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) contains a number of recommendations for the Government's consideration ahead of the drafting and publication of the Financial Services Bill early in 2012. Among the recommendations are: (a) that the Government should legislate to give the FCA a primary objective to promote effective competition for the benefit of the consumer (in line with the thinking of the Independent Commission on Banking and the Office of Fair Trading); (b) the Government must put competition at the heart of the new regulatory framework; (c) that the FCA develops far more reliable estimates, in collaboration with the industry, of its own cost effectiveness; (d) that the Government differentiates between retail and wholesale consumers; (e) that both the FCA and the financial services industry make better efforts to communicate with each other; (f) that the current legislative proposals be revised to ensure that the FCA is properly accountable to Parliament and that tools are available to enable the required level of explanation from the regulator.
The Committee's report examines the work of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as part of a programme of short inquiries into the non-departmental public bodies associated with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the DTI). A NAO report (HCP 593, session 2005-06; ISBN 0102936161) published in November 2005 highlighted three key areas of concern about the OFT and its approach to its work, focusing on making best use of its resources; improving the management of investigations; and improving the measurement of its achievements and the communication of its work. The Committee commends the OFT for its positive response to address these concerns, and although it is too soon to make a balanced assessment of the results, they are encouraged by the evidence of progress so far. The report also examines issues relating to staffing constraints, the merger referral threshold, the OFT's role in voluntary industry codes of practice, and the OFT's Consumer Direct telephone service.
A report from the 'Business and Enterprise Committee' that inquires into the effect of the 'Big 6' energy companies - which include Npower, Centrica, EDF Energy, Scottish Power, and Scottish and Southern Energy - all raising their prices between January and April 2008. It aims to feed into a separate inquiry being carried out by Ofgem.
In autumn 2008, Britain's banking system came perilously close to collapse. To avert catastrophe, the Government was forced to step in with multi-billion pound bailouts. Many factors led to this crisis including failings in financial supervision and fuzzy allocation of responsibilities for preventing and managing systemic crises. The draft Financial Services Bill (printed as chapter 5 of 'A new approach to financial regulation: the blueprint for reform' (Cm. 8083, June 2011, 9780101808323) is aimed at preventing such a potentially calamitous systemic failure of the financial sector occurring again. It proposes far reaching changes to the regulatory structure, replacing the tripartite system of financial regulation with a twin peaks model. The Joint Committee's recommendations are intended to ensure that the new regulatory authorities have the right objectives, powers and responsibilities and systems of accountability which will be essential to make them effective.
Previous report on this subject was HC 26-I, session 2008-09 (ISBN 9780215530127) by this Committee's predecessor the Business and Enterprise Committee
This paper presents the draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. The Bill creates a Groceries Code Adjudicator whose purpose will be to enforce and oversee the Groceries Code. The Code obliges large retailers (with a turnover of more than £1 billion in groceries in the UK) to deal fairly and lawfully with their suppliers; not vary supply agreements retrospectively, except in circumstances beyond the retailers control which are clearly set out in the supply agreement; and pay supplies within a reasonable time. In addition the code limits large retailers' power and requires them to pay compensation in certain circumstances
The draft Civil Aviation Bill proposes to transfer some 90 security regulation posts currently within the Department for Transport to the Civil Aviation Authority. The £5 million annual cost would also transfer - from the taxpayer to airports and, ultimately, to air passengers. In this report the Transport Committee warns the Government to ensure that the viability of smaller airports is not put at risk by the costs of new public information requirements and security changes proposed in the Bill. The Committee also calls for Ministers to take a more comprehensive approach to improving the air passenger experience, including services provided by the UK Borders Agency. Recommendations include: that public information requirements imposed on airports by the CAA do not generate unnecessary bureaucracy or cost and be clearly related to matters of importance to airline passengers; the special position of airlines, as the direct customers of airports, be recognised in the Bill; the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) be given a secondary duty toward airlines, in recognition of their special position as primary customers of airports; measures are put in place to ensure the Competition Commission (or other relevant bodies) can strike out 'vexatious or frivolous appeals' mounted by airline or airports against licensing conditions.
This report is one of a series of reviews, commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to accompany the pre-Budget report 2006 (to be published 6 December 2006, Cm. 6984, ISBN 0101698429). It sets out recommendations to reform the planning system in England in support of sustainable economic growth and prosperity, whilst securing delivery of wider objectives including promoting community involvement, supporting local democracy and enhancing the environment. Key issues identified include the need: to ensure the planning system is more responsive to the market whilst delivering sustainable development; to ensure the appropriate use of land and to better manage the growing demand for development land; to streamline the planning system to increase certainty, reduce complexity and costs; to enhance the speed and quality of local authority decision-making; and to improve the appeals system to reduce delays. Recommendations include: the introduction of a new system for dealing with major infrastructure projects, based around national Statements of Strategic Objectives, and with a new independent Planning Commission to determine applications; the promotion of a positive planning culture within the plan-led system so that applications should be approved unless there is good reason to believe that the environmental, social or economic costs will exceed respective benefits; encouraging planning bodies to review their green belt boundaries to promote sustainable new development beyond towns and cities; and removal of the need for minor commercial developments that have little wider impact to require planning permission.
This strategy document sets out the Government's analysis of the UK's defence industrial capabilities requirement, and is divided into three parts: i) a strategic overview including information on the principles and processes that underpin procurement and industrial decisions, the need for transparency, the evolving defence industry environment, developments and innovation in defence research technology; ii) a review of different industrial sectors and cross-cutting industrial capabilities; and iii) how the strategy will be implemented and an assessment of implications for the Ministry of Defence and industry as a whole.
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