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Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2007

I apologise to the noble Baroness. Her point is important and we want to encourage the take-up of travel insurance. The percentage to which the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, referred, is a great worry. A far too high percentage of people travel without cover; they are taking conspicuous risks. I agree with her that the objective is not in any way to reduce the availability of travel insurance, nor to produce a disincentive to participation. As far as travel firms are concerned, this issue is a small element in their overall operations; the profit dimension is between 1 per cent and 2 per cent. Therefore, I do not think that one is saying that regulation in this area would be the straw that breaks the back of an organisation or causes it to recast its position. It is essential that those who provide travel insurance are capable of providing the product that fulfils the intended purpose. The consumer needs support in this area. After all, it will be recognised on all sides that insurance is one of the more complex consumer goods to purchase. With a great deal of other consumer goods, the guarantees are all too clear, although the small print on guarantees regarding direct consumer goods needs to be looked at carefully. With insurance, it is notoriously difficult for people to be sure of the range of their coverage; we all know the nature of exemptions and excess clauses, which present difficulties of understanding. We want the providers to be fully qualified and regulated and to give an effective service. We maintain that we have sufficient evidence after several years that there is a problem here in which a small additional burden of regulation, which is well within the capacity of government and which the industry is readily able to bear, creating fairness across the industry and all companies involved in travel provision, merits action being taken. Therefore, I hope that noble Lords will support the order. On Question, Motion agreed to.