Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

This debate is important. After Second Reading, my noble friend sent a number of us a very helpful letter in which he covered some of these points. But it would be useful to get them on the record in public, because some of the points that the noble Baroness has raised are of significance. On vulnerable consumers, we are not concerned about only those who are formally disconnected, we are also concerned about this grey area of self-disconnection. There is nothing more disturbing than the self-congratulatory approach of the energy retailers when they say that they no longer disconnect anything like the horrendous numbers that a number of us used to have to contend with in days gone by. Now it is a rather more subtle process. It is self-disconnection by people who get themselves into financial difficulties, cannot cope and, by any stretch of the imagination, are vulnerable. Those individuals have got to be afforded a degree of protection as well. They very often fall through the net of concern that the electricity and gas retailers have. I use the word ““net”” advisedly, because it is not a blanket that will catch everyone. Too many people fall through it. I would like to think that the definition of ““vulnerability”” will be a little sharper than in the past. The ““discreet poor”” are people who do not admit that they are in difficulties. But, with a wee bit of effort, energy retailers could go some way to discovering who they are and do something about them. These very often are people who, only get in touch with Energywatch or Citizens Advice in the most fierce of extremis. They will need to know that there is a new revamped body. Electricity and gas bills should state clearly the easiest telephone numbers for these people to use for making contact. Therefore, in the context of this debate, it would be useful for ““vulnerability”” to be defined broadly and precisely. Vulnerable people are not just the folk who get switched off or who are in difficulty, they are also people who very quickly—for the best and, sometimes, the worst of reasons—get themselves into financial difficulties. We must try to help them as well. Sometimes, they are not on the books of the social services, the housing department or anyone else as being poor payers. It would be useful to have clear guidance as early as possible on the issue of vulnerability.