Consumer Credit Bill

I was just about to come to that. Never mind my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone); the Minister has stolen my thunder—it is nice to have one’s thunder stolen by the Minister, I suppose. If we are to have responsible lending throughout the nations of Europe—in other words, through the European Union—and if the OFT is to give out licences, will we have to return to this place to invoke a European directive on a European credit Bill to police those licences? And will the subsidiaries be policed or licensed? My concern is that one cannot control subsidiaries. Consider how many credit cards the big five clearing banks issue through subsidiary companies—how many companies does a bank such as the Halifax own? I defy anyone to know which company has actually issued a credit card. If one looks on the back of the piece of paper, there is a spiel, and right at the bottom it will say, for example, National Westminster bank or bank of Scotland. Let us consider the case of Barings bank—a disaster of epic proportions. If there had been lines of credit cards and lines of loans, what would have happened? How could the legislation have been enforced in this country, because Barings bank was taken over by the Dutch post office, ING? I do not know whether that is still the case, and whether an overseas company could now be pursued in similar circumstances. Company law is unclear on enforcement. If a licence is given, what checks will the OFT make on whether that company is solvent? The matter rests outside company law. If a new bank were to come in, credit checks would have to be conducted, which could be difficult. What powers does the OFT have to enable it to do that? I am not sure whether such cases are provided for in the Bill. As the Minister knows, the worst legislation leads to the Minister having to come back to this House to amend it. The Bill contains sweeping powers, but this matter is complicated. If there is a European consumer Bill, and if we face the complication of overseas lending, it will be difficult for this place to regulate it. The success or failure of the Bill may lie not in what the OFT can do, but in its manpower, which is not enormous. I hope that we do not see Capita or some other organisation creeping in to control such matters, because: first, it is not regulated; secondly, it is not part of government; thirdly, it will be appointed to do a job on a contract; and fourthly, we will have no say whatsoever in the long term as to its actual operations. Will the Minister tell us whether there is a safeguard to stop the OFT subcontracting such work? Lords amendment No. 4 mentions:"““the officer, the enforcement authority of which he is an officer or the OFT””." An officer could be anybody, presumably, providing that they are given the power to do the job. There is no reason why such work could not be given to one of those very large companies that do an enormous amount of work within government. Will the Minister confirm that that is not the case? If it is the case, what are the safeguards? If there are safeguards, will they be included in an amendment, so the OFT cannot use them as an excuse to stop people lending, to make people worried about lending or to make companies that might want to lend think that they will not touch such things, because they involve outside influences?