Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 16, 17, 18 and 19 in this group. AmendmentNo. 16 is a probing amendment, intended to clarify the exact definition of a consumer. The Bill differentiates between an existing consumer and a future consumer. While it is clear what an existing consumer is, I should be grateful if the Minister could inform us whether use of the term ““future consumer”” suggests that part of the National Consumer Council’s remit will be to target people who may become consumers in certain markets in the future. If that is so, I shall be interested to know whether the National Consumer Council, in its new proximity to the Government, will be given access to sensitive information to aid its research. This is an important point. Certain government departments have access to sensitive information such as the marked electoral register, the ID cards register and other databases, such as those containing credit history. As the Bill stands, the Secretary of State’s powers to bestow functions and allowances are widely set. I am sure the Minister will be able to reassure me categorically that access to sensitive information will not be increased as a result of the NCC’s new status. Amendment No. 17 is intended to ensure tha sole traders and small businesses are considered consumers for the purposes of the NCC. Smaller ventures are not only consumers in the traditional sense of their being private individuals, but are also consumers within a far wider business food chain. It is important that they are recognised as such in the Bill. A classic case in point would be where a small business or sole trader loses electricity, or is set to lose electricity, and due to its status as a business, not a consumer, suffers serious losses as a result of not being able to use Consumer Voice as an advocate with energy companies to prevent disconnection. Amendment No. 18 is a probing amendment that would delete the reference to ““goods”” in the definition of ““consumer materials””. I should be grateful for some clarification from the Minister. First, does the phrasing that, "““‘goods’ includes land or an interest in land””," mean that ““goods”” refers to nothing else in this context? Secondly, it is my understanding that a reference to ““land”” at this point in the Bill is at odds with the definition of ““goods”” in the Sale of Goods Act 1979. Will the Minister inform noble Lords of the genesis of that definition? I should also be interested to know whether the inclusion of, "““land or an interest in land””," which I take to mean a financial interest, in the context of consumer affairs, could result in double redress being awarded to an individual who has problems with exchanges of land, as they could be awarded redress as a consumer in Part 2 and under the estate agency scheme in Part 3. Amendment No. 19 is another probing amendment intended to tease out the definition of ““received goods””. I am curious to know whether that could refer to loans taken out on the doorstep. Among the most expensive loans in the country are those sold to consumers in their own homes. While I welcome the new provisions to equalise solicited and unsolicited sales rights in Part 4, they do not apply to financial loans. I believe the serious problem of personal debt in this country is occasion enough to warrant inclusion in the NCC’s list of relevant consumer areas, and indeed to warrant heightened consumer education and protection with regard to solicited and unsolicited sale of services.