Alex Williams from the Department for Business and Trade discusses the UK Government’s commitment to innovation as a facilitator of economic growth, and the importance of regulators in aiding this both domestically and internationally.
In our recent webinar reviewing the findings of the inaugural UK Government Regulatory Technology Report, panellist Alex Williams OBE answers questions from panel facilitator Dr Russell Richardson (North Sea Transition Authority) on Government support for economy-wide innovation and the UK’s engagement with, and standing within, the international regulatory community.
Dr Russell Richardson: The report found that some regulators are more advanced in supporting economy-wide innovation. Are you able to tell us about any government initiatives that support this?
Alex Williams OBE: The report really is interesting – I’ve learnt a lot already. So, I sit in a position where we have an overview of the UK regulatory framework as a whole. And also, just to re-emphasise, from our perspective, the independence of regulators is an absolute bedrock and keystone of the UK system. So within that, what we're doing in government is supporting a range of activities.
First and foremost, there’s a really key role for us in messaging and convening. I hope it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that the UK Government sees innovation as a real facilitator of economic growth. And the roles of regulators in delivering that innovation is absolutely key in our mind.
We reinforced this through the growth duty on regulators, through aspects of the regulators code… and only last year, we set out to economic regulators the importance of innovation across sectors in delivering economic growth. So really pushing the message at a high-level on the importance we place on it.
Where there’s good practice, we look to disseminate that and trumpet it. I've lost count of the number of government publications that have highlighted the role of the MHRA during COVID, and the approach they took. And convening power, facilitating the type of collaboration the report points to has been particularly important – be it through the Regulator's Innovation Network, or the digital regulation collaboration forum; sharing that experience is really important and we're keen to play a role where that genuinely adds value.
I'd also point to two very specific programmes from our perspective. In the report, we hear about the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund and access to funding for regulators to pursue innovative approaches. We've funded over £25 million worth of projects that are diverse and broad ranging.
From our end, we're also developing an open source, publicly-accessible, enriched central repository of the UK regulatory stock, that will facilitate both regulators and businesses to better engage with regulation and potentially find more innovative solutions for businesses to engage with regulators and regulation. Then, finally, there's more! There’s very much a live debate taking place at the moment through the Patrick Vallance-led review of the regulation of emerging technologies where, obviously, there's some sectoral focus around digital green technologies and life sciences, but there are also learnings for us from a more holistic perspective to takeaway there around the culture of regulators and the role of government in encouraging innovation.
Dr Russell Richardson: You mentioned sharing information, now, we at the North Sea Transition Authority have quite a few conversations with our Australian counterpart NOPTA. We find that very beneficial to look at systems and challenges as well. It's a big world and there's lots we can learn. How is the UK engaging with the international regulatory community to learn from, and input to, best practice?
Alex Williams OBE: I totally understand the strong value of bilateral regulatory engagement. From our perspective, we're looking at how our regulatory framework as a whole compares internationally, learning from the approaches other countries take, but crucially, how we can leverage the UK’s approach to benefit the UK as a whole. Internationally, the approach we take in the UK is well regarded, be that on a sector-by-sector basis or holistically e.g. the OECD rank our overall approach to regulation particularly highly.
Every ministerial exchange I've been on, we've had a planeload of UK regulators join us, be that on financial services or be it on energy regulation, or on my current focus on economic regulation. So we're well regarded, and frankly, we’re inundated almost on a daily basis with requests to come and speak to us and share best practice, and that's a two-way thing.
Again, we're doing more – we set out our international regulatory cooperation strategy for the UK Government and for UK regulators in June last year, talking about how we can coordinate ourselves better, being clear on who's responsible for what, what our roles are and what our levers are as regulators and in government in engaging internationally, and how we build capability in our ability to do that with a toolkit on how to engage internationally published alongside that strategy. And then finally, talk about the UK leadership role in this international sphere where through the OECD and the Agile Nations network, we really are in a global leadership position, and how we can lever that further. I think it’s quite a good news story from the international perspective.
Panellist information
 | Alex Williams OBE Alex Williams was a Deputy Director in the Market Frameworks Group in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In this role, amongst other things, he set out the Government’s vision for the future of Economic Regulation in the UK. Alex is now in the new Department for Business and Trade, in a new role as Deputy Director, Economic Regulation, Better Regulation and International, in the Better Regulation Executive. |
 | Dr Russell Richardson Dr Richardson is an experienced competition and regulatory lawyer who has managed various dispute resolutions and multi-discipline litigation before the UK, EU and Grand Cayman courts. He currently works for the North Sea Transition Authority as its General Counsel and Company Secretary, supporting the Authority on its mission to help drive forward North Sea energy transition. |
