Clause 7 - Duty to carry out impact assessments
Communications Bill
2:45 pm
Mr John Greenway (Ryedale, Conservative)
The clause sets out Ofcom's duty to carry out impact assessments before implementing proposals, and its duty to publish any findings from those assessments. The addition of required regular impact assessments in the Bill is positive and welcome. However, decisions about when to carry out such assessments, who to consult and to whom the information is shown are very much left to Ofcom's discretion. We think that measures should be put in place to ensure that Ofcom's decision process is transparent and not carried out in an arbitrary manner.
It is important that not only businesses that supply electronic communications services but business users are consulted on the impact of regulation. Electronic communication tools have become an integral part of all United Kingdom businesses—although, thanks to your ruling, Mr. Gale, they are not integral to the proceedings of the Committee. Such tools represent a significant percentage of the cost base of firms. Consequently, the effect of regulation on them must be explicitly recognised.
I should like to explain the effect of amendment No. 52, which stands in my name and those of my hon. Friends. Under clause 7(2)(b), Ofcom, when deciding whether something that it plans to do in carrying out its functions is sufficiently important to warrant an impact assessment, must have regard to the likely impact of its proposal on persons carrying on business in the markets concerned. Subsection (2)(c) makes a similar requirement with regards to the general public. It is not clear that either definition includes major communications users. We suggest that it might be sensible to include those users in the definition for reasons I have outlined.
Similarly, amendment No. 53 includes the views and opinions of significant users as an important element of Ofcom's decision-making process on how impact assessments are to be carried out. The key issue is whether, and to what extent, Ofcom should consult the customers, particularly business and commercial customers, whose commercial interests may be affected significantly by any regulatory change that Ofcom may have in mind.
Subsection (6) requires Ofcom to provide an opportunity for representations to be made to it. It might be argued that amendments Nos. 52 and 53 are covered in that general provision. However, the requirement is restricted to the persons who, in Ofcom's opinion, are likely to be
''affected to a significant extent''.
Another way of trying to ensure that the views of significant business users are always sought is to place an obligation on Ofcom to give reasons why—that is to say, to give ''a reasoned opinion'', as in amendments Nos. 54 and 56, as opposed to just an ''opinion'', as it says in the Bill. I hope that the Committee will see the difference of accent.
In some respects, these are probing amendments, designed to place on the record the extent to which there will be proper consultation with business on the important issue of impact assessments. Businesses and business organisations are sufficiently concerned to have encouraged the amendments to be tabled. We look forward to the Minister's response.