25 June 2008

Trading Funds Assessment details announced

Joint press notice issued by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform and HM Treasury

Further details of a Government assessment into trading funds were announced today by the Department for Business and the Treasury.

The review, announced as part of Budget 2008, will be conducted by the Shareholder Executive and will consider the benefits to the wider UK economy from any potential changes to the trading funds' business model.

The review will examine the impact on the trading funds' business models of any changes to the current pricing, accessing and licensing regimes with the aim of:

distinguishing more clearly what information is required by Government for public policy
ensuring that this information is available as widely as possible in order to maximise the benefits to the wider UK economy, at a price that balances the provision of such access with the need for users to make a fair contribution to the cost of collecting the information in the long term.

The policy objectives of each of the trading funds will not form part of the assessment, but the review will consider the future of the trading fund model and how it impacts on the delivery of these objectives.

Shareholder Executive will work with the Office of Public Sector Information and the Treasury during the assessment. The review will be advised by a Steering Group with representation from the Office for Fair Trading, Cabinet Office, Treasury and the Department for Business.

The review will also be informed by the views of relevant Government departments, industry and data users, and will draw on previous work including the OFT Market Study, the Power of Information Review and the Cambridge Report on Models of Public Sector Information Provision.

Advice will be provided to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper and Business Minister Shriti Vadera in the autumn.

Notes for editors

1. The Terms of Reference are available from http://www.shareholderexecutive.gov.uk/

2. A trading fund is a government department or agency which receives more than half of its revenue from the goods and services it provides, and which then uses these receipts to meet its outgoings. They are part of Government departments and, whilst they have no separate legal status, they do have their own capital base and are able to make profits and pay dividends back to their owning Department. Staff employed by trading funds are civil servants. They have specific policy objectives and the freedom to develop new innovations to meet these.

3. The priority group of Trading Funds to be included in the assessment includes Ordnance Survey, Meteorological Office, UK Hydrographic Office, HM Land Registry, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and Companies House. Others are listed in Annex A of the Terms of Reference. The Review will be carried out within the framework of current data protection legislation.

4. The OFT Market Study, 'The Commercial Use of Public Information', was published in December 2006. The 'Power of Information: An independent review by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg' was published in June 2007. The Cambridge Report 'Models of Public Sector Information Provision via Trading Fund' was published alongside the March 2008 Budget.

5. The Shareholder Executive was formed in 2003 to improve the government's performance as a shareholder in businesses. It currently has a portfolio of 27 businesses. It also acts as a source of corporate finance and corporate governance advice across Government.

6. The Shareholder Executive's mission is to ensure that Government is an effective and intelligent shareholder in business. It works with the boards and management teams of Government-owned businesses to create long-term shareholder value.

7. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform helps UK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world. It promotes business growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads the better regulation agenda and champions free and fair markets. It is the shareholder in a number of Government-owned assets and it works to secure, clean and competitively priced energy supplies.

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