Following up on their commitments in the 2008 Budget (see previous post dealing on publication of ‘Cambridge Study’ today BERR and HMT announced a review of Trading Funds. It will be run by the Shareholder Executive with input from HMT and OPSI. The main task of this review, according to the announcement, is to:
… 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.