Clause 6 - Statements to be provided in relation tofixed-sum credit agreements
Consumer Credit Bill
10:00 am
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
With respect to the hon. Lady, the provision is about the type of loan. As I said, in some cases there is a book that records the details of loans. We fully consulted with all sectors of the marketplace, including lenders and consumer groups. We could end up with the situation described by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West whereby a tremendous amount of inappropriate information is given to the consumer, or information that the consumer does not fully understand and appreciate. We do not want to go down that route.
There are major issues about data sharing, which we will address later. That may offset some of the problems that the hon. Lady is pointing up. We have, I think, struck the right balance. Providing a mid-term statement would not really help a great deal. Making people fully aware of the products that they are using and where to go if they have difficulties will help matters. The Government have the balance right, and more protections will be in place, as the hon. Lady will discover as we go through the Bill.