Clause 42 - Guidance on requirements
Consumer Credit Bill
11:45 am
Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
Continuing to be consistent, we are talking about the OFT powers to impose requirements on licensees and statutory bodies that hold a group licence. The power enables the OFT to respond proportionately to problems with a licensable business. When it is dissatisfied with certain matters, the OFT can impose a requirement on a licence holder for the reasons that we explained earlier. That is useful when the problem is not sufficient to warrant refusing or revoking a licence.
The clause requires the OFT to publish guidance on how it proposes to exercise its powers to impose requirements. The OFT must have regard to that guidance when exercising its powers under the clause. The Committee has been provided with a note about the OFT’s guidance. That note provides an idea of the scope of the guidance based on the clauses in the Bill. Clearly, once the Bill is passed, the OFT will consult on the guidance, as stipulated in subsection (4).
The guidance will give examples of requirements and more details of the procedure that the OFT will go through. The OFT is able to revise the guidance if new issues arise. The clause will help businesses and consumers to understand how the OFT will use its powers to impose requirements.