Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the economic regulatory duties that sit with each individual sectoral regulator to (a) reflect the need to deliver net zero emissions by 2050 and (b) support regulators to make transparent trade-offs where necessary.

The Government has established new coordination arrangements since setting the net zero target. This includes two cabinet committees, chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to turbo-charge the net zero transition and co-ordinate action. The four main departments with lead responsibility for decarbonising sectors of the economy have also set up boards to oversee delivery of their policies aimed at reducing emissions.

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) undertook a study on economic regulation, which the Government responded to alongside the National Infrastructure Strategy. The Government agreed with the NIC that regulator duties should be coherent, covering price, quality, resilience and the environment, and has committed to consider new and existing duties in the round as part of a policy paper in 2021.

The Government supports the work already undertaken by the regulators to deliver net zero, and will continue to review the most appropriate measures, including legislated climate duties, alongside existing duties to ensure regulators make the necessary contributions to achieve legislated net zero targets.