To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will introduce legislation requiring all regulatory bodies sponsored by his Department to admit the public to their meetings.

The Department has no plans to introduce such legislation.

However, the regulatory bodies generally have statutory duties under specific legislation e.g. Ofcom operates under the Communications Act 2003 and the Competition Commission's procedures are governed by the provisions of the Enterprise Act. They must abide by their statutory duties in the exercise of their functions. These include requirements to consult and to consider representations before taking decisions. The regulatory bodies can be held to account by Parliament, via the Business and Enterprise Committee and the Public Accounts Committee, for the exercise of their statutory duties.