The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced a stock-take of ownership and control across economic infrastructure in the UK.

The key aims of the work are to:

• Map ownership and control across the economic infrastructure sectors such as ports, airports, energy and water networks, and car parks
• Assess how ownership of infrastructure affects outcomes for consumers in these markets

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The stock-take is intended to improve public understanding of competition issues in UK infrastructure markets. It may also lead to further work by the OFT if specific competition or consumer issues are identified in any of the sectors.

Heather Clayton, Senior Director of OFT's Infrastructure Group said: "Effective infrastructure is crucial to the performance and productivity of the UK economy, and the quality of life of UK consumers. There have been significant changes in ownership of infrastructure assets in both regulated and unregulated sectors of the economy over the past decade. We want to take this opportunity to step back and assess how these developments might have affected competition and consumers."

The stock-take is expected to be completed in autumn 2010.

(CD)