Lords committee hears from business representatives, worker and consumer groups as it continues inquiry into UK regulators

The session will run from 10.30am on Tuesday 14 November and can be followed live on Parliament TV or in person in Committee Room 4a, Palace of Westminster.

At 10.30am the Committee will hear from:

• Virginia Acha, Associate Vice President - Global Regulatory Policy, MSD;
• Michael Gibbons CBE, Senior Non-Executive Director at Bluefield Solar Income Fund;
• Filippo Pollara, Senior Policy Advisor, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Possible questions include:

• is it clear to businesses what role regulators are being asked to play and why they make the decisions that they do?
  
  
• what improvements could be made to how regulators engage with businesses?
  
  
• is it easy for businesses to tell when a regulator is performing well or badly?
  
  
• do the regulators that you have encountered have the necessary skills, culture, resources and incentives to carry out their functions?

At approximately 11:40am, the Committee will hear from:

• Nicola Smith, Head of Rights, Social and Economics Department, Trades Union Congress (TUC);
• David Mendes da Costa, Principal Policy Manager, Citizens Advice.

Possible questions include:

• do regulators take on board the views of workers and consumers sufficiently in carrying out their functions?
  
  
• are there sufficient mechanisms for workers and consumers to feed their views into regulatory processes?
  
  
• what improvements can be made through parliamentary scrutiny to improve regulatory performance?

The committee is encouraging interested individuals and organisations to submit evidence to the inquiry until Friday 1 December.