Consumer Credit Bill

moved Amendment No. 9:"Page 3, line 13, leave out ““an agreement includes””" The noble Lord said: In speaking to Amendment No. 9, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 10 and 11. I shall not detain the Committee as long on these amendments as I did on my previous amendments. To a considerable extent, these amendments mirror the amendments I tabled in Clause 3 with regard to high net worth individuals. These amendments relate to business lending. As noble Lords will be aware, this clause provides that all credit provided to businesses will be exempt from Act regulation, other than in relation to credit of a value of less than £25,000 provided to sole traders, partnerships of three or fewer partners or unincorporated associations. I am sure that all noble Lords welcome the thrust of this clause. The purpose of the first two amendments—which are very similar to those I moved in the previous clause—is to determine that it is unnecessary for the declaration to be included in the agreement. As lenders will need to maintain a separate suite of agreements containing the specified declaration, there is no reason why the declaration should not be in a separate document. That would have the effect of reducing burdens on business without reducing consumer protection in any way. The third amendment is similar to an amendment I moved in the previous clause. It provides that new Section 16B(6) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which would continue to apply provisions relating to unfair relationships, should be removed with regard to business lending that is otherwise exempted under Section 16B. All the arguments that I used on the last amendment, which failed to persuade the Government, apply equally to this. While supporting the provisions on unfair relationships, we do not think that it is necessary to apply them to business arrangements that are otherwise exempt under the Act. I beg to move.