'Less regulation and fewer targets' for TV declares Hodgson

Britain's new breed of super regulators should deal with as few high level duties as possible, concentrating on a clear focus and fewer targets, according to Patricia Hodgson, Chief Executive of the Independent Television Commission (ITC).
Delivering the New Statesman Lecture 'Government, Business and Regulation: Has TV Got News For You', Patricia Hodgson said that limiting the duties of regulators, in the interests of less regulation but also democratic accountability, is a good thing.
Giving examples of the difficulty of directing independent bodies with a wide range of contradictory duties and of confusion about where responsibility lies for delivering strategic outcomes, she said this is leading to "dislocations in the machinery of government that threatens both delivery and democratic accountability".
Introducing the theme of the need for clear focus in regulation Hodgson said: "Our current regulatory structures go back to the Thatcher and Reagan initiatives of the 80's designed to 'get Government off the backs of the people'. Whole sectors were privatised and regulators given focused tasks, to secure services in the interests of consumers, through competition, whilst ensuring efficiency and security of supply. It was a stunning success. Services improved and prices fell."
She added that no solutions were total, so regulators had been given more duties, some of them involving trade-offs on important matters of public policy.
"The Major government required Ofwat to protect our flora and fauna. Ofcom has been asked to serve citizens as well as consumers. Ofgem has to secure power supplies whilst also serving social and environmental objectives set by the Minister." But she asked: "how can a regulator be asked to reconcile competing political goals when, by definition, the regulator is unelected?"
"This isn't a criticism of the motives behind such legislation. Ministers and parliamentarians have to work with the tools at their disposal. But where, for example, are the big strategic decisions taken that determine the cost and security of power supplies in Britain? Is the main factor government's wrestling with the balance of renewable and fossil fuels, or the regulator's design of trading arrangements (which pushed down electricity prices and made nuclear energy uneconomic) or the business decisions of suppliers?"
She said that multiple regulators, as in the rail industry, caused confusion. "Are we in danger of playing pass the parcel and forgetting where the proper focus should be in public policy?"
"Three successive governments", she said, "have shown mounting impatience with the civil service, by-passing it with regulators, quangoes and political advisers. We need to think further about the responsibilities of government, as well as those of business and regulators, be more precise about how they relate to one another and make the accountability of each clearer to the electorate."
(GB)