Transparency in the OFT's work

The OFT's Transparency commitments, as set out in our recent Transparency statement (pdf 267kb), came into force on 1 July 2010.

If you think the OFT has not met its commitments then please contact the relevant Senior Responsible Officer on the case or project concerned.

More information on this process and other OFT complaint procedures can be found here.

More information on the OFT's transparency work can be found below.

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Update July 2010

We are committed to seeking further improvements to our transparency. To inform the next phase of our work we have published a brief scoping paper (pdf 261kb) outlining areas we are considering exploring further.

We would value your feedback on the areas set out in the scoping paper and we would also like to hear your ideas on what other aspects of our work could be improved by increased transparency. All comments and suggestions should be sent to:

Jessica Nardin (5C/9)
Office of Fair Trading
Fleetbank House
2-6 Salisbury Square
London
EC4Y 8JX

Or alternatively respond using the feedback form here.

Please could we have any responses by 30 September 2010.

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Update May 2010

On 27 May we published our Transparency statement (pdf 267kb). The Statement sets out our commitments to those involved and interested in our work in terms of how we will engage and what information we will provide throughout the life of a case or project.

In summary, the Statement outlines our commitment to: 

• consistently provide parties with information at the start of an enforcement action, including OFT investigation team contact details and timescale information
• regularly update parties on case status and timescales, including, where appropriate, providing draft information requests in advance of issuing them formally and sharing provisional thinking
• provide better information on our website relating to project and case work (where they are in the public domain)
• provide summaries of our completed work on our website together with more performance data in our Annual Report, and
• strive to maintain our values and attitudes which are in line with the principles of good administration.

We ask those who work with us to hold us to account if we fail to meet expectations. We will aim to put things right or as far as possible explain why we cannot meet our commitment. We aim to implement the commitments contained within our Statement by 1 July 2010.

To read the Summary of Responses to our consultation please go to the transparency consultation page.

Next steps

When we started this project we realised our Transparency Statement would represent our first steps towards making the OFT more transparent. We acknowledge there is still more we can do to improve transparency in other aspects of our work.

In the next phase of this project we plan to explore some of the areas which have been raised, but not addressed, during this project so far. We will shortly be publishing a brief scoping paper setting out these areas and asking for views and suggestions.

We would value your thoughts and ideas on what other aspects of our work could be improved by increased transparency. Please email your suggestions to Jessica Nardin at jessica.nardin@oft.gsi.gov.uk.

Where we are carrying out work outside the scope of this project which has a positive impact on our transparency, we will publish the details on this page.

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Update: November 2009

The consultation has now closed. You can view the responses we received here.

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Update: July 2009

We have published a consultation setting out our provisional thinking on how we can become increasingly transparent and open in the way we work.

These proposals focus on putting substantially more information in the public domain, and on how the OFT engages with interested parties during investigations and its other work. They include:

• publishing summary information about all competition and consumer enforcement cases when opened
• considering the circumstances in which the OFT can provide timetables, including giving more notice of our intention to collect substantial amounts of information
• inviting suggestions about how the OFT should best share provisional thinking on cases and projects
• making permanent the pilot of publishing contact details for OFT staff responsible for specific pieces of work.

For more information on visit the Transparency consultation page.

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Update: March 2009

We published an update to our website as part of our ongoing project to increase the transparency of our work. This update groups together a selection of the OFT's ongoing investigations and projects already in the public domain and provides further information on the investigation or project in question including contact details and, where it is possible to do so, key milestones.

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Update: December 2008

We have completed an initial external consultation with stakeholders and obtained views on the transparency of our processes. We have also carried out an initial internal review.

As a result we identified a number of areas where we considered that we could improve the transparency of our work. This includes providing additional information to our stakeholders on contact details for the projects we undertake and also our performance in terms of the time taken to complete projects.  

We will be publishing a document for full stakeholder consultation in which we will set out our emerging thinking on the issues identified as part of the project to date.

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Greater transparency in our work

We recognise the importance of being transparent with those that we deal with, and increasing the public transparency of our work is a key theme in our Annual Plan 2008-09.

We have committed to build on our business improvements through providing better information:

• about the work we do
• what we are doing
• how long it is likely to take, and
• how we will engage with stakeholders.

We will meet this commitment through providing clearer guidance on how we operate, including, where possible, benchmark processes and timetables for the various types of projects that we undertake.

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Further information

If you would like to speak to us about how we might improve the transparency of our work, please contact one of the team members listed below.

Jessica Nardin - Team Leader
Tel: 020 7211 8942   jessica.nardin@oft.gsi.gov.uk

The OFT's senior transparency champions are:

Heather Clayton, Senior Director, Infrastructure
Tel: 020 7211 8826   heather.clayton@oft.gsi.gov.uk

Barney Wyld, Director of Communications
Tel: 020 7211 8602   barney.wyld@oft.gsi.gov.uk

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