Clause 52 - Power of OFT to impose civil penalties
Consumer Credit Bill
4:30 pm
Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
I welcome you to the Committee's proceedings, Mr. Taylor, at the appropriate time of 4.30 pm. I believe you were here at 4 o'clock, alongside other members of the Committee, in anticipation of an exciting, challenging and forward-looking debate.
I also welcome the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid) to the Committee, and am grateful for the spirit in which he moved the amendment. I hope to point it out to him that the amendment is not necessary, although I understand its probing nature. He is right that the clause is designed to allow the OFT to impose penalties if licence holders do not comply with a requirement placed on them by the OFT. Clause 38 introduces requirements to give the OFT the ability to deal with practices that cause consumer detriment but are not serious enough to mean that a licence will be revoked. The requirement must relate to the licensable business. It must also address the matter with which the OFT is dissatisfied, or it must ensure that the problem, or a similar problem, does not arise again. The OFT can impose a requirement on licensees when it is dissatisfied with their conduct.
Requirements are a targeted and proportionate tool for dealing with problems. The amendment would allow the OFT to impose a financial penalty when dissatisfied with a licensee's conduct, without having first to impose a requirement to try to sort out the problem. We do not consider that a proportionate response and feel that it would be less likely to have the desired effect of improving the licence holder's performance.
The OFT can issue a stop now notice under the Enterprise Act 2002 if the conduct is bad enough, which covers the point raised by the hon. Gentleman. The OFT may also revoke or suspend a licence if consumers are seriously at risk. We believe that the OFT has enough power to deal with ongoing situations, and it has the power to revoke licences if necessary.
I hope to have shown with those assurances that the amendment is not necessary. I therefore ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw it.