Part of Orders of the Day — Financial Services and Markets Bill – in the House of Commons at 7:30 pm on 1 February 2000.
Sir Nicholas Lyell
Conservative, North East Bedfordshire
7:30,
1 February 2000
If a professional, who is regulated by his professional body and is entitled to act for a restricted line of clients, should find that he is acting for someone who is not sufficiently within that client line, he will be considered to be transgressing and therefore guilty of illegality. That person may have received money on the basis that he would pass it on to another professional, in the way described by my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Mr. Loughton). That money may have been placed in a bona fide investment deal that fails. If the person is asked to return the money because it was taken for a deposit, he will be obliged—because he is properly regulated—to return it.
Such spin-offs worried me with regard to unlicensed deposit takers, which we debated earlier. I can see the same problem arising in this connection, and I should be grateful if the Minister would describe how she sees matters working out. Is not the risk faced by people such as have been described equivalent to that faced by careless drivers who, instead of being fined £40 for a parking offence, get fined £1 million?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.