Competition and markets
The NAO is the statutory auditor of many of
the economic regulators in the UK. Our audit clients include:
Many of these bodies have as one of their
statutory objectives to protect and promote the interests of
consumers through competition, where appropriate. The NAO has
developed expertise in assessing whether a regulator is delivering
value for money in its work to promote competition. Issues we may
look at include whether:
- the regulator has the right technical expertise to understand
the markets it regulates, and whether it makes the best use of that
expertise;
- the regulator has the right information about markets;
- the regulator’s decision making processes are sound;
- the regulator is good value for money as an organisation.
Markets only work properly when consumers can
shop around to get the best deal, so it’s important for
regulators to make sure that consumers can actively participate in
a market. See About
Consumers for more information on our work on consumer
protection and participation.
The NAO occasionally examines the work of bodies funded by
industry at their request and at the request of the ‘parent’
department. For example at the request of the Financial Services
Authority and HM Treasury, we carried out an examination of five
aspects of the FSA’s work. Our report
was published in April 2007.