Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [Lords]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that intervention. He was rather unfairly chided by the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown). I said—rather quickly, perhaps, but I did say it—that there would be an office in Glasgow, as well as in the other locations that were mentioned. My right hon. Friend was right to pay tribute to the work of Energywatch and to remind the House again of the importance of serving vulnerable consumers well. The hon. Member for Richmond Park also rightly drew attention to the importance of the work of Postwatch. I agree with her about the importance of those arrangements during the current closure programme. I was the Minister with responsibility for post offices during the urban reinvention programme so I know very well how important the work of Postwatch has been in that context. I can give the hon. Lady and the House the reassurance that those arrangements will continue until the end of the programme. We certainly will maintain the expertise in the energy and postal sectors that has been so valuable to us and to the country. I welcome the constructive character of the debate, reflected in the remarks of the hon. Member for Cotswold just now. I am grateful to him for his welcome for the appointment of the chair of the new National Consumer Council. We have explored some disagreements this afternoon, and some of them were set out again in his speech and that of the hon. Lady. I am happy to join both hon. Members in their tributes to their hon. Friends in this place and the other place for the contributions to the debate.