Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:13 pm on 25 October 2007.

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Photo of Lord Jones of Birmingham Lord Jones of Birmingham Minister of State (also in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Minister of State (also in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (also in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), Minister of State (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) (Trade Promotion and Investment) 3:13, 25 October 2007

My Lords, my noble friend is referring to two kinds of lending, one where there is security involved and one where there is no security. On the latter, I referred to action the OFT might take against irresponsible lenders in an earlier answer. As far as mortgages are concerned, the FSA has been doing a lot of work in this area recently. It recently published details of a review into the behaviour of intermediaries and lenders within the sub-prime mortgage market. It discovered weaknesses in responsible lending practices and in firms' assessments of consumers' ability to afford a mortgage. As a result it referred five firms to its enforcement division. Potential remedies include withdrawal of their permission to operate and financial penalties.