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Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

I shall speak to AmendmentsNos. 26, 42 and 43 tabled in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, and the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, and I am grateful for the constructive approach of the noble Lord. Amendment No. 26 requires the council to include the measurable objectives of a project in any forward work programme. That appears to exclude objectives which are not measured and which would represent an undue constraint on the transparency and flexibility of the forward work programme. I take it that the underlying intention is to promote measurable objectives for projects that the council proposes to undertake. I am happy to support the broad thrust of that argument but I do not agree with the amendment. Amendment No. 42 adds to the obligations of the council in respect of the annual report and requires it to include details of the most frequent complaints from consumers about post and energy. It also requires the new NCC to include recommendations to regulated energy and post companies to change their practices. The council has a general information function under Clause 9—referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Oppenheim-Barnes—which allows it to facilitate information provision to consumers. Under Clause 44, it has an obligation to publish information on levels of compliance by an energy or postal services company with any complaint-handling standards set by the regulator. An obligation on the council to set out information for consumers in its annual report may not be the most appropriate way of providing consumers with that information or information on its recommendations to regulated post and energy companies on their practices. We should leave it to the council to decide how best to bring such information to the attention of consumers. Amendment No. 43 adds an obligation on the council to include in its annual report an account of its fulfilment of its duty to arrange for the annual report to be published. That appears unnecessary. For those reasons, I must resist these amendments.