Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)

I beg to move,

That—

(1) during proceedings on the Consumer Credit Bill, in addition to its first meeting at 9.25 a.m. on Tuesday 25th January, the Standing Committee shall meet at —

2.30 p.m. on Tuesday 25th January; and

9.25 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. on Thursday 27th January, Tuesday 1st February and Thursday 3rd February;

(2) the Bill be considered in the following order, namely, Clauses 1 to 55, Schedule 1, Clauses 56 to 59, Schedule 2, Clauses 60 to 68, Schedule 3, Clause 69, Schedule 4, Clause 70, new Clauses, new Schedules and remaining proceedings on the Bill;

(3) proceedings on the Bill shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 6.55 p.m. on Thursday 3rd February.

Welcome to the Committee, Sir John. It has been my pleasure to sit with you on Finance Bills and on a variety of other Committees over the years, and I am delighted that you will be chairing our proceedings, together with your co-chairman Mr. Benton.The Bill has been well consulted on. It is a long time since the last Consumer Credit Bill was passed in 1974. When the White Paper was published, there was a great deal of consultation with industry and with consumer groups on the regulations that flowed from it, so the Committee will have a wealth of information at its disposal to enable it to deal adequately with the Bill. I am delighted that the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) is in his place, and I look forward to his words of wisdom. Alongside him sit his Whip, and the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Dr. Tonge), who is in place of the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) this morning, who is away on parliamentary business.

The Committee has a wealth of talent, Sir John, given its experience on many issues, including debt. It would take too long for me to go through the expertise and knowledge of each Member—and, as a former Whip, I have other information as well. I look forward to their involvement.

The Bill is important, as it will affect the lives of all our constituents. Unfortunately, there are many sad stories of people getting into a great deal of difficulty with debt, and that is one of the reasons why the Bill is needed. I know that we will give it due consideration.

Mr Laurence Robertson (Shadow Minister, Economic Affairs; Tewkesbury, Conservative)

I join the Minister in welcoming you to the Committee, Sir John. I do not have his breadth of experience of serving under you on Committees, but I am sure that it will be a very pleasurable and enlightening experience.

The official Opposition are, of course, opposed to programme motions, and we voted against the programming of this Committee because we feel that these things should be more open-ended. Important issues are before us, and we cannot tell how long it will take to discuss them. However, we are where we are, and I have no intention of prolonging this part of the proceedings.

Dr Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)

I apologise, first of all, for the absence of my hon. Friend, the Member for Gordon.

This is a new and interesting area for me: if you were coming to the Committee Stage of a Bill to regulate gynaecologists, Sir John, you would understand how I feel. It will be a very interesting experience. I have—this can be checked with our Whips—no personal experience of this subject, apart, I am proud to say, from my mortgage. However, I am not sure that my constituents are in the same position, as many, many people come to my surgery who have got into huge difficulties. For that reason my party and I welcome the Bill.

Question put and agreed to.

Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)

On a point of order, Sir John. I should like to deal with an issue that arose on Second Reading, on which some hon. Members would like clarification. Several Members asked whether the Bill could allow for lay representation in Scotland for time order applications. We discussed that with the Scottish Executive and the Scotland Office, and there is considerable support for permitting lay representation in time order applications in Scotland. As I said on Second Reading, the Government would like all people in the United Kingdom to be able to exercise their rights in the same way. Therefore, Sir John, we will return to that issue on Report.

Mr John Butterfill (Bournemouth West, Conservative)

Thank you.

I remind the Committee that there are a money resolution and a Ways and Means resolution in connection with the Bill. Copies of the resolutions are available in the Room.

Hon. Members should give proper notice of any amendments, as it will not be my intention or that of my co-Chairman to accept starred amendments. I also remind hon. Members that mobile phones and pagers should either be turned off or turned to silent.