Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, for affording us the opportunity to debate this important issue. I am also grateful to my noble friend Lord Borrie for his expert analysis. I shall refer later to some of the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer. I am mindful of the significant expertise of the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, in this field, as a former chair of the National Consumer Council, and I shall try to address the issues that she raised, to which the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley referred. The amendment affords me the opening to explain the scope of the role of the new council in representing consumers’ interests. There will be no inherent constraints on the consumers which the new council may represent. I believe that it is essential that the council should have the opportunity to prioritise its work according to consumer detriment, while taking into account the important functions which we have set out in the Bill, for example on vulnerable consumers. The council will need to consider carefully where it can best utilise its resources in aid of the consumer and how its expertise can be deployed in their best interests. The underlying question for consideration here is: who is the consumer whose interests are in need of protection or support? The precise identity of the consumer in greatest need of support and representation will vary according to different market sectors and different market conditions as they change over time. In some sectors the consumers facing greatest detriment at any given time will be domestic consumers. In other sectors the consumers most at risk may be, from time to time, small businesses or medium-sized enterprises, as the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, said. We recognise the importance of providing the new council with the opportunity to consider these issues for the benefit of all types of consumers, from individuals to businesses, as referred to by my noble friend Lord Borrie. Some larger businesses and many smaller businesses have their own trade associations to represent their interests, and these associations are active and vigilant on behalf of their members. Even so, it is likely that the expertise of the new council could be deployed to great advantage from time to time in aid of business consumers, and we wish to ensure that that opportunity is reflected in the Bill. This amendment has provided me with a very good reason to revisit the provisions relating to the definition of ““consumer””. I have reaffirmed that the existing definition of consumers in the Bill does include businesses. The definition refers to, "““a person who purchases, uses or receives, in Great Britain, goods or services which are supplied in the course of a business carried on by the person supplying or seeking to supply them, or a person who purchases, uses or receives relevant postal services in Northern Ireland””." The definition of a ““person”” in the Interpretation Act 1978 applies, which means that it includes a body of persons corporate or incorporate which purchases, uses, or receives the goods or services. The definition in the Bill is deliberately not limited to those who purchase, use or receive goods and services for private purposes and so already extends to businesses as the consumers of the goods and services offered by other businesses. As a result, although I very much appreciate the amendment in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, and the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, and agree with the intent, Clause 2 effectively covers the position so the amendment is unnecessary. I hope that I have given succour to noble Lords who think that businesses have not been included and that I have provided appropriate comfort on that point.