Clause 7 - Provision of information and
Enterprise Bill
6:00 pm
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
I support the intention behind the amendment–to improve the consistency of approach in the use of stop now orders. The amendment is designed, as the hon. Gentleman explained, to achieve two objectives. The first is to give the OFT a duty to issue guidance, but it is unnecessary because it already has a duty to issue guidance on stop now orders under the Stop Now Orders Regulations 2001–I appreciate that they are not before us today–and under clause 220, which places it under a duty to issue guidance on the corresponding provisions in part 8. The OFT issued interim draft guidance on stop now orders last year and, after extensive consultation, the final version was published last week. Copies have been made available to members of the Committee.
Secondly, the amendment is designed to place a duty on the OFT to ensure that stop now orders are used consistently. We want enforcers to use the powers in the regulations and part 8 of the Bill consistently. The OFT guidance has the aim of promoting consistency and, to prevent duplicate proceedings, it can direct that enforcers other than community enforcers may not take a case to court if another enforcer is already doing so.
The OFT does not, however, have a general power to direct the activities of trading standards departments, which are, as the hon. Gentleman would accept, obviously part of local authorities. We do not believe it appropriate for the OFT to have such a power in that regard. We expect the OFT to do all it can to support and encourage the consistent use of these powers, but it is not right to place it under a duty to ensure that. For the reasons I explained, it does not have the power to do so.
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will accept that we support his intention and that much of what he wants the amendment to achieve will be achieved by the Bill and existing regulations. I am hoping to persuade him to withdraw the amendment. If not, I encourage the Committee to oppose it.