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Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 2: 2: Clause 43, page 26, line 6, at end insert— ““( ) A regulator must make regulations requiring its regulated providers to have in place and operate appropriate and effective internal complaint handling procedures.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 3 and 4. I am pleased to be able to revisit this issue with what I hope is an improved set of amendments. Amendment No. 2 would place a duty on regulators in Clause 43 to make regulations to require their providers to have in place and operate effective internal complaints handling procedures. The amendment is complemented by Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 to Clause 46, which connect the proposed new provision in Clause 43 to the list of information that a supplier can be required to provide to the consumer. Overall, the amendments would ensure that regulated suppliers were required to have internal complaint-handling procedures and that the regulators could require the suppliers to communicate to their consumers how these procedures work. I do not need to rehearse the arguments that I made both in Committee and on Report in this House. These amendments would put the consumer’s response to services at the heart of the consumers Bill. Complaints are not only one of the most accurate measures of how successful the delivery of a service has been but are a vital avenue for the consumer, especially with respect to essential energy and postal services. I read with interest the words of the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, on Report. I had hoped that, had he been here, he would have been able to support the slight change in the wording, which he suggested. I agreed with him wholeheartedly when he said: "““This Bill will not work unless effective mechanisms are in place to ensure that the companies meet the requirements to handle complaints far more effectively than, frankly, either the post or energy sector does at present””.—[Official Report, 30/1/07; col. 189.]" I was pleased that the Government came back with amendments that began to acknowledge the need for a best-practice element in the regulation of energy and postal providers. I hope that today the Government can realise the full potential of the Bill by accepting these amendments. They have the opportunity to send out a message that shows that the Bill will provide an incentive for a new culture in which responsible business practice empowers the consumer. It would be a great shame to miss such an opportunity. I beg to move.