Clause 11 - Super-complaints to the OFT
Enterprise Bill
9:30 am
Mr Tony McWalter (Hemel Hempstead, Labour/Co-operative)
I agree, but all of the Opposition contributions have, to use the hon. Gentleman's example, factored burglars out of the picture almost entirely. He even said that his first response was to examine the effect on business without differentiating between legitimate businesses, which the Bill is designed to protect, and illegitimate businesses, which the Bill is designed to nail. He also spoke about the idea that an extensive series of victims of practice would be needed before a super complaint was put forward. That should not be the case.
Two months ago, an investigation by The Guardian found that a mobile phone company had decided that anyone who cancelled a contract would be slammed with a bill that was almost unintelligible, which would be followed a few days later by a threat to take the person to county court. Furthermore, the company decided to contact all the credit agencies to try to scupper the credit ratings of those who had had the misfortune to have a contract with it. As a Member of Parliament, I have received several complaints from constituents who have been victims of that company.
The Bill is designed to address that sort of practice. This country is fortunate in that we have tremendously strong and honourable consumer protection bodies. I am not sure whether I should declare an interest, in that I subscribe to Which? magazine and the Consumers Association. I suspect not, but the quality of their investigations and work is such that we should be grateful to have the opportunity to avail ourselves of their expertise, and that of similar bodies, in considering the Bill.
Amendment No. 19 would reduce the time within which a response must be published from 90 to 60 days, but when there is a novel practice such as I have described, it takes a significant time to work out the company's modus operandi. I did not have the full resources of the OFT, but I spent a considerable time trying to find out how extensive the practice was—and whether it was a one-off or there was some peculiarity in a particular office of the company—before I decided to raise the matter in Parliament. I did so because the practice seemed to be widespread and not related to a particular functionary of the company.