Accountability in the regulatory State: the role of the National Audit Office in the UK

Abstract

The paper explains the role of the National Audit Office, and its distinctive position in the process of regulatory accountability to Parliament It is framed around two questions: Why does regulatory accountability matter? And what is the National Audit Office's role in regulatory accountability?

Economic regulators are established by Parliament with statutory functions, duties and powers. As economic regulators, their principal role is to control the abuse of monopoly power, though they may have other functions such as social regulation. Their duties are framed in such a way as to allow flexibility and discretion to regulators in the exercise of their functions. The paper outlines the functions of the National Audit Office and its position in the accountability of the regulatory framework. It also describes the National Audit Office's role in evaluating the quality of the Regulatory Impact Assessments prepared by government departments.

The paper continues with a discussion of outcomes that arise from this approach to accountability, focusing on outcomes for three groups: consumers, market participants, and regulators. It emphasises that the most obvious outcomes of the National Audit Office's work lie in changing the behaviour of the regulators, and will illustrate this with a series of examples.

The paper closes with a speculative assertion - the growing interest in regulation may reflect a wider anxiety within developed and developing economies about ineffective regulation as a significant barrier to growth and development. While this assertion is difficult to support with evidence, the paper concludes that the National Audit Office's work reflects a desire to contribute to this debate and to ensure, ultimately, that the regulators use the discretion they have in the public interest.