The Financial Reporting Council (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order imposes specific statutory duties and regulatory requirements on the Financial Reporting Council Limited (“the FRC”), a company registered in England and Wales with number 02486368.

Article 2 amends the Equality Act 2010 (c. 15) by adding the FRC to the list in Schedule 19 of public authorities which are subject to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of that Act.

Article 3 amends the Legislative and Regulatory Reform (Regulatory Functions) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/3544) which specifies the regulatory functions to which the duties in sections 21 and 22 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c. 51) apply. Section 21 sets out the principles to which any person exercising a regulatory function must have regard. Section 22 provides for the issuing of a code of practice (the Regulators’ Code) to which that person must have regard. The Regulators’ Code is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulators-code, and a copy may be obtained from the Better Regulation Executive, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

Article 3 adds all of the regulatory functions exercised by the FRC to the list in Part 1 of the Schedule to that Order that are not already regulatory functions to which the duties in sections 21 and 22 apply. The regulatory functions which have been delegated to other bodies under regulation 3 of the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/649) are not included as functions to which the duties in sections 21 and 22 apply.

Article 4 of this Order designates the FRC as a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) (“the FOI Act”) in respect of certain of its functions of a public nature which relate to audit, accounting, actuaries and corporate governance. The obligations under the FOI Act apply to public authorities. For the purposes of the FOI Act, a “public authority” includes a body or office which is designated by an order under section 5 of the FOI Act. Section 7(5) provides that such an order must specify the functions of the public authority designated by the order with respect to which the designation is to have effect and limits the application of the FOI Act to information held by the authority relating to those specified functions.

The Corporate Governance Code is available at: https://www.frc.org.uk/directors/corporate-governance-and-stewardship/uk-corporate-governance-code, and the Stewardship Code is available at: https://www.frc.org.uk/investors/uk-stewardship-code. Copies of both of these documents may also be obtained from the Financial Reporting Council, 8th Floor, 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS.

This Order refers to the delegation of some of the FRC’s functions under the power to delegate under regulation 3 of the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2016. The agreements by which these functions are delegated are available at https://www.frc.org.uk/auditors/professional-oversight/oversight-of-audit/delegation-agreements, and copies may also be obtained from the Financial Reporting Council, 8th Floor, 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS.

An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.