Clause 28 - Applications for standard licences
Consumer Credit Bill
10:30 am
Charles Hendry (Shadow Minister, Trade & Industry; Wealden, Conservative)
I shall try to assist the Minister immediately. We are calling for greater clarification of all parts of the Bill, but we have asked for that to be done in regulation in most cases so that there can also be flexibility. We have been trying to get a better understanding of what he wants to achieve so that there is no doubt about what the Bill aims to do.
Let me be clear: will the OFT have the power to deal with a new types of business? Subsections (4)(a) to (i) list several types of business. If a new type of business were to develop, would the OFT have the ability simply to change the list and add to it; would it have to try to fit the business into the list, even if that was inappropriate; or could we end up with a situation in which a new type of business would not be regulated because it could not be added to the list?