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Confident Consumers

I hate to admit that I am of the generation that understands the reference that the hon. Gentleman makes, but he is right that we need to establish the FSA’s role in education. It has not been engaged in the process long, and some would say that it could face a conflict of interest in trying to be both regulator and educator. When the Government go ahead with the financial services consumer panel, it will be interesting to see what sort of relationship the panel has with the new advocacy bodies. Empowering customers cannot be achieved simply through education and information. Customers also need to have confidence that appropriate and convenient means of redress will be available and enforced, when that is justified. Clearly, there are many forms of redress to deal with the different harms that consumers can suffer, but they need to be accessible and effective. The Minister referred to the ombudsman system. It has worked well but, as expectations change, the standards of enforcement may need to change too. The central policy question has to do with how we create confident consumers. The responsibility must be shared between Government, business and consumers. It is the Government’s role to ensure that the right balance is struck between protecting consumers—and especially the most vulnerable in our community, as the Minister rightly pointed out—and allowing business to trade without being handicapped by over-burdensome and often ill-considered regulation. The Government also have the responsibility to ensure open and competitive markets, in which business and consumers can operate. In addition, they should provide a legal framework that is clear, simple and easily understood, and put in place effective resolution and redress systems. Given the Government’s ambition to make Britain among the best consumer regimes by 2008, is the Minister still confident that they will fulfil this target, and how far have they progressed to date? Business must also share in the responsibility. It is not, and should not be, the role of business alone to educate consumers, but I believe that it is clearly in the interests of reputable businesses to ensure that their customers are well educated and informed about their services and products. It is in their interest to be accessible to consumers, to make their offers clear and to be responsive to feedback and complaints. In fact, I would contend that that can be a source of genuine competitive advantage for businesses. The John Lewis Partnership, which was referred to earlier, is well known for its slogan, ““Never knowingly undersold””. That means that its customers can be confident that they will not be beaten on price. Recent showings suggest that the partnership is offering something that is well received by some customers.