Amid all the political controversy surrounding Ofcom’s assessment of the takeover of BSkyB, the regulator’s disclosure of internal communications (following a freedom of information request) throws up some delicious insights.
One that amply demonstrates the sang froid of our regulatory regime is the point at which Ofcom was forced to change horses in its reporting line. Following an exhausting exchange of e-mails about precisely how and when the report would be delivered to the Business Secretary, a low-key internal memo of 22nd December signalled the reshuffle thus: “As widely reported, we will now be submitting our report to DCMS. It is therefore unclear whether DCMS will take the same view on issues such as publication as BIS”. (In fact, the report was delivered to DCMS on time, 31st December, and is available here).
Another revelation was that Ofcom was able to recharge the cost of the exercise. In the formal words of another e-mail: “This work constitutes a Public Interest Test under the Enterprise Act, and therefore the costs fall under the definition of orphan expenditure which must be funded by Government through Grant-in-Aid, rather than by Ofcom stakeholders.
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