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Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

The noble Lord raised some very interesting points on these amendments. We have entered the territory of what really is independence and what needs to be approved by the Secretary of State, who has quite some say in the tone of the National Consumer Council under Schedule 1 because he appoints the chairman. Therefore, no doubt he will be assured of the probity of the person he is appointing and, presumably, his or her judgement. How people are appointed and the terms of their reappointments, and so on, has a lot of bearing on a number of these so-called independent bodies, some of which are a lot more independent than others. The NCC, under the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, is probably very independent, knowing how independent-minded he is. Nevertheless, this needs further explanation from the Government. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, for putting down her amendment.