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Confident Consumers

The Government have been careful to work with the Post Office to provide improved services for pensioners, including the Pension Service and the card account. I feel a ““Focus”” leaflet coming on from the hon. Gentleman, but I hear what he says and I will put his comments to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He can rest assured that this Government, more than any other, have supported the Post Office in all its aspects, including services to its most vulnerable customers, especially pensioners. The Government intend to introduce a legal services board, with specific responsibilities for competition and consumers. I will get an appropriate Minister to write to the hon. Gentleman about that with further details. On the building sector, the Government have supported a trust mark scheme to provide reassurances that the consumer is employing a good builder or property repairer. The hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) raised a number of interesting points. Like me, he was consensual one moment and partisan another. I will try to deal in equal measure with the issues that he raised, but I am not sure that I can manage that. There were some problems on the security industry registration. Let us be straight about this. The vast majority of people not being registered could not be registered because of their criminal record. The point of introducing the registration scheme was to clean up the act and stop the industry being undermined by cowboys. This is a good industry. It is a good employer and an international industry. It provides global public and private services from the United Kingdom. It will continue to grow as we need the services of that industry in many areas. When I first raised the issue, the industry was worried, but it now has a protection that will help it expand and offer new services here, in Europe and beyond. I am proud that there are people in my community who are not registered. They should never have been in the industry in the first place. I am glad they are out of it and will not get back into it. Those who are in the industry can now join a union and get better pay and training. The training system is recognised. There is security in the industry. Those working in it have a skill and can be respected. Many of those who work in it, particularly door security people, are good, skilled and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, on occasions they face violence caused by drink or other reasons. Because the industry has been cleaned up and because these people have skills, knowledge and a clean record, the industry as a whole will flourish. I am pleased about that, as I hope the hon. Gentleman is.