Ian Byatt
Sir Ian Byatt is the current Chairman of the Water Industry Commission For Scotland. There is concern that such an influential and important role, supporting the publicly owned Scottish Water Industry, is in the hands of a supporter of free-markets and who supports liberalisation, competition and privatisation with almost religious zeal. Moreover, his links with Policy Networks and Think Tanks that share similar beliefs are also of concern to those who wish to see Scottish Water kept in public hands.
According to his Frontier Economics profile he ‘Was the England and Wales water regulator between 1989 and 2000. He oversaw the privatisation of the England and Wales water sector and established a successful regulatory regime for the only completely privatised water and waste water industry in the world. He was responsible for two fundamental periodic reviews of all functions and price controls for water companies. Ian also has extensive experience of providing economic advice to the Government at the highest level. Prior to becoming the water regulator, he held the position of Deputy Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, Head of Public Sector Economic Unit in the Treasury and was Director of Economics in the Department of the Environment’ [1].
In his role at the Office of Water Services, OFWAT, between 1989 and 2000 he was responsible for independent economic regulation of the water companies in England & Wales. Since 2000 he has advised the World Bank and governments around the world on matters relating to (privatising) the water industry. Sir Ian was an adviser to the Water Industry Commissioner from 2002 before being appointed Chairman of the Commission in 2005. In a Paper he wrote Sir Ian Byatt argued for an increase in competition and surprisingly for a regulator call for a decrease in detailed regulation. He stated ‘It is difficult to predict how fast competition will develop in the water industry. But it can be expected to strengthen the position of the customer. And in the presence of competition, it will be much more difficult for regulators and government to manage the details and the operations of the water companies. This would be very welcome’ [2].
He is also a council member of the European Policy Forum which attempts to generate market ideas for public policy. He has contributed to various papers for the EPF, including the paper titled ‘Do the Taps need changing’ [3]. In it he argues that water companies in England and Wales need to replicate the Scottish model in the non-domestic sector by splitting network and retail supply. He has also authored a report in 2005, on behalf of the European Policy Forum, calling for no dilution of the EU Services Directive in order to ensure that public services were opened up to competition and (so-called) customer choice [4].
He is also a member of the Public Service Productivity Panel instigated by the Treasury.
Affiliations
References
- ↑ Sir Ian Byatt Biography on Frontier Economics Frontier Water, Accessed 7th August 2008
- ↑ Byatt, I, ‘Political Economy of Regulation’, p21 [1] Accessed 7th August 2008
- ↑ European Policy Forum Catalogue Recent Publications [2] Accessed 8th August 2008
- ↑ Meade Geoff, (September 12, 2005) 'EU RULES COULD DASH PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM REPORT WARNS', Press Association
