Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 25: 25: Clause 17 , page 10, line 15, leave out ““may”” and insert ““must”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendment seeks to place a duty on the Secretary of State to publish any reports that are submitted to him by the National Consumer Council. It seems only right that reports from the National Consumer Council, which will be a partially publicly-funded body and provide services to the consumer through Consumer Direct, should be accessible to the public. In Committee the Minister said that, in some cases, it would not be appropriate to publish reports from the National Consumer Council and that there could be cases where reports from the National Consumer Council were not, "““of wider interest or relevance””.—[Official Report, 9/1/07;col. GC 54.]" I cannot see how reports from a council dealing with national consumer matters would not be of some interest to some consumers. The Minister noted publication costs. Surely if a report is published for the Secretary of State there cannot be great expense incurred in merely attaching a link to that report to the NCC website. I have not been convinced by the Government’s refusal to allow the publication of all NCC reports. This is a matter of transparency for the consumer and of public accountability. I was worried by the Minister’s words that the Secretary of State and the National Consumer Council would between themselves decide what was appropriate information to give to the public. That does not seem to be the best way for a champion of consumers to operate. I hope the Minister can give a more substantial reason than publication costs, which I contend would be non-existent, and the supposed relevance or not of reports. I beg to move.