Clause 52 - POWER OF OFT TO IMPOSE CIVIL PENALTIES
Consumer Credit Bill
10:30 am
Mr Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Private Secretaries To Leader of the Opposition; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)
I support my hon. Friend. This is an opportunity to speak, as it were, for the other side in this very balanced Bill. Like my hon. Friend, I do not see the reason for specifying the maximum sum. To give maximum flexibility to the authorities it is necessary to take into account all the aggravating factors that might have led to proceedings being taken in the first place. I shall not reiterate everything that has come up in the Committee, on Second Reading and in our everyday experience. However, we have sometimes found the most distressing circumstances produced by companies that, when their financial affairs are probed, are more than able to stand a substantial fine.
For some very small companies or for those that operate small partnerships or the like this is a deterrent sum. For those who rake in millions of pounds—often in the unfair manner suggested by the right hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle)—this would appear to be no more than an occupational hazard. Therefore an opportunity to include flexibility seems useful.