Clause 19
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill
9:30 am
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister (Small Business), Trade & Industry; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
The clause is all about advice, information and guidance. Amendment No. 54 seeks to widen the ability of the NCC to issue advice or guidance on any matter affecting the interests of consumers or
“otherwise in the public interest”.
We feel that it would be appalling if the NCC held information that was in the public interest but, because of the narrowness of the definition, was not able to publish. We have already discussed Postwatch, which the Minister said was not a social policy think-tank. The challenge is how narrowly one defines the interests of consumers. It is a probing amendment. We are asking the Government whether the clause is a bit too limiting. It could be argued that anything could be defined as being in the public interest. We are seeking a bit of clarity about how the Minister defines what is in the interests of consumers and how that differs from the public interest.
Amendment No. 55 would convert another “may” to “shall”. We are not seeking to employ a scattergun approach, but we think that it is important for this particular measure to read:
“The Council shall publish advice or information about consumer matters if it appears to the Council that its publication would promote the interests of consumers.”
I should like to turn that on its head and ask the Minister where the harm is in strengthening “may” to “shall”. Is the purpose of the measure to provide the NCC with a get-out clause if it is under pressure from the Government to cut costs?