When the regulator knocks, will you be ready? - Nabarro

Executive summary
More than half of the respondents to our survey were not aware that
their businesses were regulated by the Environment Agency, the Office
of Fair Trading or the Pensions Regulator, despite the fact that all of these
watchdogs have jurisdiction over every company operating in the UK.
Furthermore, a significant proportion of those surveyed did not realise that
the European Commission and the Health and Safety Executive had powers
over their activities.
Despite this apparent ignorance, 87% of the individuals we questioned agreed
that the level of regulation and scrutiny facing their companies had increased
over the last five years, often resulting in heightened workloads and a greater
administrative burden because of tighter controls on internal procedures.
The responsibility for dealing with the reputational risks posed by the
regulators falls to the main board at 67% of the companies in our poll, and
in the vast majority of cases, those responsibilities are never shared with
other members of the business through training sessions. In all 70% of those
interviewed said that they had never run a training programme for their staff
on diversity matters – despite the fact that employment tribunals have powers
to hand out unlimited fines for discrimination cases – and 69% had never
trained employees on environmental regulations.
Therefore, whilst there is a general appreciation of the increasing impact
of regulatory bodies, it is clear that in most companies there is a limited
understanding of compliance obligations, and staff across the wider
organisation are rarely kept abreast of regulatory responsibilities.
This survey was carried out in 2007. A total of 70 telephone interviews were
conducted with senior professionals in a range of listed companies, private
firms and financial institutions operating in the UK.