Clause 5
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill
4:00 pm
Ian McCartney (Minister of State (Trade & Investment), Department of Trade and Industry; Makerfield, Labour)
Mr. Weir, I am glad that you so enjoyed the events of this morning that you have come back for the afternoon sitting. I hope that we can make progress this afternoon.
I recognise that the amendment is a probing one. However—although I do not say it to influence the views of hon. Members—it was moved in another place, where it was opposed by Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour Members, for good reason. It might assist if I explain why the proposals as they stand are consistent with good practice and maximum transparency.
We should not confuse the purpose of the proposals with the purpose of an annual report. An annual report sets out the achievements of the previous financial year in the work programme, along with what is coming up. The clause deals with something different. The hon. Member for Richmond Park hit the nail on the head, and I shall return to her helpful comments in due course.
The amendment would cause the new council great difficulties. We believe in maximum transparency, and consumers have a right to expect not only an annual report but a forward work programme, in line with good practice. The publication of an annual forward work programme strikes a balance with the requirement to prepare an annual report in line with financial years. The forward work programme represents the means whereby the new council sets out a programme for consumer advocacy, together with its aims and priorities and the funding requirement for carrying out those aims and priorities.
The issues to be addressed in the regulated sectors may be fast-moving—the hon. Lady alluded to the fast-moving nature of some of the markets in which the NCC will work—and if the council were required to produce a forward work programme only once every three years, there could be difficulty. In the end, the bottom line must be the capacity of the council to intervene on consumers’ behalf, to take action, to consider research and to make proposals for the resolution of problems, including both those that have arisen or that could arise because of marketplace changes. Publication of an annual forward work programme, on which the council must consult, will ensure that the proposed activities of the council will indeed be transparent, and that it can be held to account for those activities, not only through the work programme process but through the printed responses delivered in connection with the annual report.
Consultation will allow the new council to obtain the views of key stakeholders in determining its priorities and the activities that it will undertake to achieve them. In many cases, organisations want and need to take a longer-term view for planning purposes. The hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford mentioned local authority district plans. Local authorities work on a 10-year statutory cycle, which ensures that once agreement is reached about land uses and other planning law matters, the local authority’s planning department and its elected planning committee members can make decisions over the 10-year period that are consistent with planning law and with the decisions made through public consultation and decision making—including potential public inquiries.
The process in the Bill is different, in the sense that there is a fast-moving marketplace, a need to represent consumers’ interests and a need to accommodate the possibility of intervention by an independent body on consumers’ behalf. The process must include the possibility of discussion with the regulator, with the relevant organisations, including bodies in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the regions, and with other stakeholders. It is therefore critical that there is scope for such decisions to be made on the basis of flexibility and proper priorities.
We need to be able to update and renew that vision each year. Although the speech made by the hon. Member for Richmond Park was short, I am referring to it a lot. A short contribution can contain some important fundamentals. [Interruption.] I shall give way to the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East, who has been enjoying interrupting me from a sedentary position.