Evaluation of an OFT intervention Independent fee-paying schools May 2012 OFT1416 © Crown copyright 2012 You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email:
[email protected]. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: Marketing, Office of Fair Trading, Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London EC4Y 8JX, or email:
[email protected]. This publication is also available from our website at: www.oft.gov.uk. CONTENTS Chapter/Annexe Page 1 Executive summary 1 2 Introduction 6 3 Theory, methodology and data 9 4 Descriptive analysis 18 5 Econometric analysis 22 6 Conclusion and estimate of consumer benefits 31 7 References 33 A List of SS Schools and Non-SS Schools 34 B Market for independent schools 37 C FT score and rank 38 D Econometric analysis 40 E Dispersion analysis 52 F Consumer detriment averted 58 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has a public commitment to evaluate each year at least one of its previous interventions. These evaluations help us to understand whether and how our projects have achieved the desired impact, and whether the outcomes could be further improved. The OFT relies on findings from such evaluations to learn lessons that can be applied to future comparable interventions. 1.2 In this context, the OFT’s evaluation team has evaluated the impact of the intervention addressing the anti-competitive practice of 50 independent fee-paying schools in the setting of fees during academic years 2001/02 to 2003/04.