John Bridgeman Appointed Chairman of the Regulatory Board
Published: 12 April 2005
John Bridgeman, a former Director General of OFT, has been appointed Chairman of the Jockey Club’s Regulatory Board with immediate effect.
Julian Richmond-Watson, Senior Steward of the Jockey Club and the retiring Chairman of the Regulatory Board, said: “I’m delighted that John Bridgeman has agreed to take over from me as Chairman of the Regulatory Board. His appointment demonstrates the Jockey Club’s continuing commitment to the independence of regulation in racing.”
In November last year the Jockey Club announced the appointment of John Bridgeman as Chairman designate of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority (HRA), the body to whom the responsibility for regulating racing was due to have been transferred to with effect from 1st January 2005.
Julian Richmond-Watson continued: “The HRA should have started at the turn of the year but its establishment was deferred because of uncertainty over the funding of racing following the European Court judgement in the BHB / William Hill case. However, with the recently announced extension of the Levy Board removing short term uncertainty, we made another concerted effort last month to finalise the necessary agreements to launch HRA.
“In the event, BHB concluded that it could not support, at this time, the use of limited industry funds to finance a one-off cost arising in the Pension Scheme on transferring the Jockey Club employees to HRA
“We remain determined to achieve our goal of independent regulation, an objective which the Minister of Sport says racing should treat as a priority and to which we and BHB remain committed. We are reviewing our options on how to achieve this and we will discuss the ways forward with the interested parties
John Bridgeman said: “I am very much looking forward to the challenge of chairing the Regulatory Board. It is important that the process of evolution is maintained and that we continue to take regulation forward pending the provision of the necessary finances needed to establish the Horseracing Regulatory Authority.”
12th April 2005
Notes for Editors:
1. The Regulatory Board is responsible for all the Jockey Club’s regulatory functions. Its membership is:-
John Bridgeman CBE TD DL, Independent Chairman
Ben Gunn CBE, Independent Director, special responsibility – Security
Julian Richmond-Watson, Senior Steward
Sir Michael Connell, Deputy Senior Steward
Andrew Merriam, special responsibility – Disciplinary
Michael Henriques, special responsibility – Licensing
2. John Bridgeman has over 15 years international experience in Regulation and Consumer Affairs and has a particular interest in the sporting and broadcasting sectors. He is currently Chairman of the Direct Marketing Authority, the Standards Committees of Warwickshire County Council and the Warwickshire Police Authority.
He served for 6 years on the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and 5 years as Director General of Fair Trading at the time of the introduction of the 1998 Competition Act. He left OFT in 2000. He has worked closely with the European Commission and a number of national regulatory authorities and has been involved with matters relating to Horseracing, Soccer, Rugby Union, Cricket and Formula One Racing and to satellite and terrestrial broadcasting. Formerly John Bridgeman had a successful international business career.
