Reform of regulation is expected to take account of the wider role of the utilities in the economy as well as their importance to the consumer.In competition policy, the promise to make companies prove mergers are in the public interest may be modified, by keeping the impact on competition as the main criterion.Mrs Beckett said Labour needed to provide workable solutions to real problems. But they are expected to be influential.There are already signs that policies on the utilities and competition may be watered down to meet criticisms by the task forces. I don't think any one of us want to be seen as strong Labour or Tory supporters."The views of the task forces will not be binding on Labour policymakers when they draft documents in the summer for the party conference. David Allen, marketing director of Digital and a member of the task force, refused to align himself with Labour but was strongly critical of the shortage of skills in Britain and the lack of action to create them.Other task forces include executives from NatWest, JP Morgan, British Gas and 3i, who have been invited to join as part of a wide-ranging dialogue between Labour and business on policy for the City, the utilities, competition, innovation, small business and competitiveness.Sir Terence's unequivocal backing for Labour could embarrass some of the other participants in the task forces, which have been set up to give practical advice from experts on how the detail of Labour's industrial policies should be formulated, on the understanding that involvement does not mean a commitment to the party.Sir Terence said later: "This is a non-political project which we hope to support because we care about the future of Britain. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any government enthusiasm for manufacturing." He believed there was ''much greater understanding by Labour that the skills that design and innovation can bring to industry will have a very stimulating effect on the economy."Sir Terence is a member of the task force on innovation, design, science and technology, whose first meeting yesterday included representatives of SmithKline Beecham, Digital Equipment and Nissan. Speaking at the launch of six Labour task forces on business policy, Sir Terence endorsed comments by the party's trade and industry spokesman, Margaret Beckett, adding that "Britain has the opportunity to be the enterprise centre of Europe - all the signs, the possibilities and the talent is here.

Sir Terence Conran - designer, restaurateur, founder of Habitat and former chairman of Storehouse - attacked the Government for failing to show enthusiasm about manufacturing and said he supported Labour policy and expected the party to win the next election. "However it is measured, the Bank's track record as a banking supervisor stands comparison with other countries," he wrote.. Against this, the cost of failed banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the US is estimated at pounds 20bn over the past decade, Mr Quinn wrote.In Japan the current banking crisis has in effect exhausted the Deposit Insurance Fund which stood at pounds 5bn only two years ago. The Bank's record as a supervisor compares favourably with countries such as the US and Japan, the Bank argued in a concerted effort to rebut the wave of criticism unleashed by the Barings crisis. The Labour Party is considering stripping the Bank of its supervisory role and creating an independent Banking Commission, while Treasury thinking also favours consolidating supervision and regulation into an integrated, central City body."The net benefits of leaving the supervision of banks with the Bank greatly outweigh the risks of experimenting with radical institutional change, especially at this uncertain point in the evolution of the world's financial system," wrote Brian Quinn, the Bank's executive director in charge of supervision, in an article for The Scottish Banker.He calculated the cost to the banking system of bank failures in the UK measured by payments from the Deposit Protection Fund at pounds 144m, some of which could still be recovered.

The prospect of a separate listing for Pearson TV is said to have been discussed internally.. The Bank of England gave a vigorous defence yesterday of its role as supervisor of the banking sector, saying now is not the time to risk radical reform of regulation and supervision. According to NatWest, both Pearson and MAI, Lord Hollick's media and financial services company, could maximise shareholder value by announcing demerger plans.Informed sources say Pearson Television might be the most obvious candidate for demerger, following a spate of acquisitions in recent months. We have just announced new reporting lines and you can assume those changes reflect careful thought about the structure and how we want to develop it in the future."The trend toward hiving off disparate businesses has swept the market, but has come late to the media sector, according to analysts.Most recently, Thorn EMI has announced plans to spin off its music and entertainment arm.

Earlier this month, it announced a new management structure, placing the three core business lines under separate executive control.NatWest Securities yesterday changed its recommendation on Pearson from "reduce" to "hold", and advised that the company was a "prime candidate" for demerger."It is important in this environment that companies stick to their knitting, doing what they know best," Andrew Walsh at NatWest said.Pearson declined to comment on the speculation A spokesman said: "We look at the structure all the time. "There is a store of hidden value, and it hasn't been agressively managed."Analysts predicted that Pearson itself would consider demerger in the course of 1996. The speculation followed reports in the Independent on Tuesday that Granada, the television and leisure company that last week won a takeover battle for Forte, had considered mounting a bid for Pearson last year at up to pounds 9 a share, or pounds 5bn. According to estimates prepared by Henderson Crosthwaite, Pearson is easily worth pounds 9 a share to a bidder looking to break up the company."The market has taken the view that Pearson is a major potential bid candidate," Louise Barton, analyst at Henderson Crosthwaite, said. Pearson has risen 16p to 666p in two days' trading, as rumours circulated that members of the Cowdray family, who control about 10 per cent of the shares, could be willing to sell at the right price. Shares in Pearson, the potential bid candidate, continued to climb yesterday, as market attention focused on it for the second day running. But he went on to trim another quarter point from the level of base rates on 17 January despite worse monetary figures. ''The gap between the two men will have increased in the meantime,'' said Don Smith, an economist at HSBC Markets.Their disagreement in January was the third under the present monetary arrangements.