Examination of Witnesses (Questions 120-121)
POSTCOMM, OFCOM
AND OFGEM
Q120 Chairman: Why do Ofcom and Ofgem
not have a finance director on the board?
Mr Buchanan: We have a chartered
accountant in terms of running the SMT, which is myself, and we
have an outstanding chief operating officer who I think for the
four or fifth year in a row—I am looking at the NAO now—has
delivered clean and very efficient accounts. We are the first
organisation in the public sector to deliver that. We have had
two discussions with the Treasury and Dame Sheila Masters. The
Treasury understood our unique position. We are a small organisation.
There is an accounting qualified representative on the board—me—but
the chief operating officer is running an exceptionally tight
ship such that our services have been sought by other regulators.
Q121 Chairman: Do not go on protesting
too much. What about Ofcom?
Mr Richards: The answer is fairly
similar. We have had successful accounts ever since we were created.
We have a very good finance director who is on our executive committee.
That runs the show in an executive sense. Our board overwhelmingly
concentrates on the range of very complex policy issues that we
have to deal with and that is where the centre of gravity has
been judged to be by the board itself.
Chairman: Thank you very much for your
evidence. That concludes the hearing. It is clear to me that the
more vulnerable members of society still do not get the benefit
they should obtain from the removal of price controls. It is also
apparent to me that although it is relatively easy to do the process
of switching there is a plethora of very confusing information,
so clearly there is still a lot of work for all of you to do.
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