A Bill to provide for controls on the powers of certain regulatory authorities to impose charges for their services; and for connected purposes.
<p>The Bill would place restrictions on regulatory authorities in England (defined as "any authority or body which regulates the carrying on of any business or activity, or the practice of any profession") so that they could not increase fees by more than the rate of inflation (measured by the Consumer Prices Index) over a specified period of time. </p><p>In addition, if such authorities wished to introduce a charge for a service that had previously not been charged for, they would have to seek parliamentary approval for this.</p>