Accountability of regulators Regulator engagement with HM Treasury, external stakeholders, and Parliament Engagement with stakeholders Strengthening the role of statutory panels Requirement for regulators to publish information on their engagement with stakeholder panels
The Act introduces a new statutory requirement for the regulators to publish clear and consistent public communication on how they have engaged with the panels across all of the regulators’ work. This seeks to increase transparency of the regulators’ operations, improving the ability of Parliament to scrutinise them, and of stakeholders to comment on them.
	The statutory requirement will require the regulators:
to provide information in their annual reports on their engagement with the statutory panels over the reporting period
to provide information on how their appointment of panel members has complied with their statement of policy on panel appointments, in relation to the processes for making appointments and the matters considered
to provide, as part of public consultation, information on any engagement with panels before the consultation.
	The form and detail of the information provided will be for the regulators (working with the panels as appropriate) to decide. This seeks to ensure the regulators can find the appropriate balance between transparency and the confidentiality crucial to ensure an open exchange of views as part of the policymaking process, which is fundamental to the panels’ role as a ‘critical friend’.