Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Financial Reporting Council (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2021 and comes into force on 6th April 2021 or, if later, the day after the day on which it is made.

Amendment to the Equality Act 2010

2.—(1) Part 1 of Schedule 19 to the Equality Act 2010 (public authorities: general)( 4) is amended as follows.

(2) Under the heading “Industry, business, finance etc”, after the “Financial Conduct Authority”, insert—

• “The Financial Reporting Council Limited( 5) . ”.

Amendment to the Legislative and Regulatory Reform (Regulatory Functions) Order 2007

3.—(1) The Legislative and Regulatory Reform (Regulatory Functions) Order 2007( 6) is amended as follows

(2) In Part 1 of the Schedule, after the “Financial Conduct Authority”, insert—

• “The Financial Reporting Council Limited, other than regulatory functions which are functions it had delegated under regulation 3 of the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2016( 7) as at 6th April 2021 ”.

Person designated as a public authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

4.—(1) The Financial Reporting Council Limited is designated as a public authority under section 5(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 with respect to the following of its functions—

(a) monitoring the compliance of issuers of transferrable securities with accounting requirements in Part 6 rules in accordance with section 14 of the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004( 8);

(b) ensuring that the provision of financial information in accounts complies with Companies Act requirements in accordance with section 456 of the Companies Act 2006( 9);

(c) the issuing of accounting standards in accordance with section 464 of the Companies Act 2006( 10) and the interpretation of those standards;

(d) the provision, development, operation and maintenance of a public register of third country auditors in accordance with the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2013( 11);

(e) the public oversight of statutory auditors under the 2016 Regulations;

(f) the carrying out of tasks to ensure that the provisions of the Audit Regulation are applied in accordance with the 2016 Regulations;

(g) the determination of technical standards and of other standards on professional ethics and internal quality control of statutory auditors and statutory audit work in accordance with the 2016 Regulations;

(h) the determination of the manner in which the standards mentioned in sub-paragraph (g) are to be applied in practice in accordance with the 2016 Regulations;

(i) the application of the standards mentioned in sub-paragraph (g) in accordance with the 2016 Regulations;

(j) the inspection, monitoring and investigation of audits that are carried out by statutory auditors and third country auditors in accordance with the 2016 Regulations;

(k) the sanctioning of statutory auditors and third country auditors and the publication of sanctions imposed in accordance with the 2016 Regulations;

(l) the delegation and reclamation of functions in accordance with regulation 3 of the 2016 Regulations;

(m) providing independent oversight of the regulation of the accountancy profession;

(n) providing an independent disciplinary scheme for matters relating to accountancy firms or members of the accountancy professional bodies which raise issues affecting the public interest;

(o) setting actuarial standards;

(p) providing independent oversight of the regulation of the actuarial profession;

(q) providing an independent disciplinary scheme for matters relating to the actuarial profession which raise issues affecting the public interest;

(r) monitoring and maintaining the UK Corporate Governance Code and its associated guidance; and

(s) monitoring and maintaining the UK Stewardship Code and its associated guidance.

(2) In this article—

(a) “the 2016 Regulations” means the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2016( 12);

(b) “Audit Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 537/2014of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/909/EC2( 13);

(c) “Part 6 rules” has the same meaning as in section 73A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000( 14);

(d) “statutory auditor” has the same meaning as in section 1210 of the Companies Act 2006( 15);

(e) “third country auditor” has the same meaning as in section 1261 of the Companies Act 2006( 16).

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 athttps://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.