National Audit Office Report on Regulators

Released today the National Audit Office (NAO) report on Ofwat, Ofgem, Ofcom and the Financial Conduct Authority. Entitled: "Regulating to protect consumers: Utilities, communications and financial services markets"

It is quite retail consumer focussed and in particular examined

"whether the regulators have good insight into the key issues that consumers face, and clearly define what they want to achieve and the barriers they face in doing so (Part Two);
how well the regulators measure their own performance, understand the extent to which they are able to influence consumer outcomes, and use this information to improve their own effectiveness (Part Three); and
whether the regulators report performance publicly in a way that is useful for Parliament and other stakeholders to hold them to account (Part Four)."

Summaries and full report can be found here:

And the FCA response (for what it's worth)

Not sure the FCA element will be of much a surprise to those here, and have only skim read myself thus far, but this para caught my eye

"Regulators need to make the distinction so that there is clarity about what they can be held accountable for and what they have less control over." Like their registers for example