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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 11 May 2006, in the House of Commons, led by Ian McCartney. The answering member was Robert Smith.

Confident Consumers

Debate on a motion for the adjournment on creating confident consumers.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
446 c555-92 
Session
2005-06
Department
Department of Trade and Industry
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Robert Smith | 446 c586 (Link to this contribution) The Minister should ensure that his colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions get things in...
Ian McCartney | 446 c586-7 (Link to this contribution) The Government have been careful to work with the Post Office to provide improved services for pensi...
Show all contributions (86)
Peter Bone | 446 c587 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the Minister. My point was that the regulation and the administration of the regulation...
Ian McCartney | 446 c587-8 (Link to this contribution) The resources are there. Mistakes are made on occasion, and the hon. Gentleman, who has been in the ...
Ian McCartney | 446 c585 (Link to this contribution) He made his bed: will he lie in it?
Robert Smith | 446 c585 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is exaggerating. If he looks at our manifesto from the last election, he will see that ...
Ian McCartney | 446 c585-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is trying hard, but he is drowning. Regional development agencies already have bu...
Ian McCartney | 446 c588 (Link to this contribution) I am the consumer Minister, and thank goodness I am. Any job I do, I will make a success of it. I ma...
Crispin Blunt | 446 c588 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is doing a good job for the Labour party.
Ian McCartney | 446 c589-92 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point, but I stick to what I said. All the new local bureaux servi...
Lord McCabe | 446 c592 (Link to this contribution) I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
Ian McCartney | 446 c589 (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker. That is the second time that I have been pulled up today. I explain...
Ian McCartney | 446 c588-9 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman is trying to get himself off the hook he put himself on, but Citizens...
Speaker | 446 c589 (Link to this contribution) Order. I have restrained myself for a long time with regard to the language used by the right hon. M...
Peter Bone | 446 c588 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that this is the consensual part of the Minister’s speech. He would not want to misrepr...
Robert Smith | 446 c574-5 (Link to this contribution) The Government seem to have two standards: one for business outside, and another for the way in whic...
Mark Prisk | 446 c575 (Link to this contribution) Given the strong role that the Government anticipate for the consumer voice and the development of p...
Robert Smith | 446 c576 (Link to this contribution) It is important to set out that role. If consumer voice informs policy making, it should not become ...
Peter Bone | 446 c576 (Link to this contribution) I draw the attention of the House to my declarations in the Register of Members’ Interests, particul...
Ian McCartney | 446 c576 (Link to this contribution) When you raised the point, I made it clear that the matter was out to consultation. I will read my r...
Peter Bone | 446 c576-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the Minister’s clarification. I understand the point, but I also understand that i...
Peter Bone | 446 c579 (Link to this contribution) That is a valid point. The attraction of the proposal that I mentioned is that it is simple and stra...
Robert Smith | 446 c579 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the hon. Gentleman’s careful analysis. I wonder whether a different Department wil...
Mark Prisk | 446 c581 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right that where companies clearly abuse their position, they must be dealt wi...
Tony Lloyd | 446 c579-81 (Link to this contribution) First, I apologise to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and to my right hon. Friend the Minister for missing ...
Tony Lloyd | 446 c582 (Link to this contribution) Most of us are pragmatic and believe in a free vote when it guarantees that our side wins the vote. ...
Ian McCartney | 446 c583 (Link to this contribution) That is a fair point. I am working on it as we speak. We have been consulting since January, and yes...
Mark Prisk | 446 c583 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for what he has told us about the study, but has he any idea when the ...
Ian McCartney | 446 c584-5 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, that is a matter for the Leader of the House, on whom the hon. Gentlema...
Mark Prisk | 446 c584 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for his stopping our drift into a consensual swamp. I enjoyed his pant...
Ian McCartney | 446 c563-4 (Link to this contribution) I will be frank in saying that that issue has not crossed my desk, but I will get a reply for the ho...
Ian McCartney | 446 c564-5 (Link to this contribution) If I may, I shall finish the point. I know that the hon. Gentleman has strong views on this and he m...
Ian McCartney | 446 c566 (Link to this contribution) The whole purpose of yesterday’s stakeholder event was indeed that. This is about two things; the ec...
Ian McCartney | 446 c565 (Link to this contribution) I will give way, although the hon. Gentleman’s point might be answered in a few seconds.
Michael Fabricant | 446 c565 (Link to this contribution) I rise to point out that the Minister is right that the arguments are finely balanced. I was persona...
Mark Prisk | 446 c566 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says that he intends to make sure that there is a full and proper consultation. That is...
Robert Smith | 446 c568 (Link to this contribution) As in all things, if consumers are to be fully informed, they sometimes have to be careful. Somethin...
Mark Prisk | 446 c567-8 (Link to this contribution) I hate to admit that I am of the generation that understands the reference that the hon. Gentleman m...
David Drew | 446 c567 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Services Authority is tasked to do a lot of work in the area of consumer and financial...
Mark Prisk | 446 c566-7 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by concurring with the Minister’s remarks about his predecessor, the hon. Member for Bra...
Ian McCartney | 446 c566 (Link to this contribution) I want to conclude. I know that the hon. Gentleman has started to like me a bit more, but I have tak...
Peter Bone | 446 c574 (Link to this contribution) The Minister made the case for ombudsmen very clear. He said that an ombudsman would protect vulnera...
Mark Prisk | 446 c573 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that the problem is resources, or sanctions?
Robert Smith | 446 c573-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a mixture of both. The Information Commissioner’s department is snowed under with freedom of i...
Mark Prisk | 446 c568-72 (Link to this contribution) All of which generously leads me on to my third point. I believe that consumers themselves have a pe...
Robert Smith | 446 c572-3 (Link to this contribution) I, too, welcome the debate as a chance to take forward the issue of consumers and the important role...
Ian McCartney | 446 c555 (Link to this contribution) The last time I spoke in the House, some three years ago, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you were in the chair....
Peter Bone | 446 c555 (Link to this contribution) The Minister makes a powerful point. Do the Government intend to extend prevention by providing spri...
Ian McCartney | 446 c555-6 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the Department for Education and Skills is consulting on that. Also, one of the ke...
Ian McCartney | 446 c557 (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I will get some oil on the old bones by the end of this debate. I t...
Ian McCartney | 446 c556 (Link to this contribution) I will give way, but are you going to withdraw your policy on abolishing the DTI? [Laughter.]
Speaker | 446 c556 (Link to this contribution) Order. I know that the Minister is a little rusty at the Dispatch Box, but if he casts his mind back...
Robert Smith | 446 c556-7 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box and to his new portfolio. I just wanted to make it clear ...
Michael Fabricant | 446 c563 (Link to this contribution) I wish to be helpful. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) was talking about ...
Robert Smith | 446 c563 (Link to this contribution) The Minister mentioned increasing enforcement and making it more effective. The Government accepted ...
Ian McCartney | 446 c563 (Link to this contribution) Well, it is the first time that the hon. Gentleman has been helpful to me. It is a business scam. We...
Richard Burden | 446 c562 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend also address the scams that target home workers, which still cause many pr...
Ian McCartney | 446 c561-2 (Link to this contribution) I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend and his trading standards posse. I have not read his Adj...
Ian McCartney | 446 c562-3 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to do so, together with the Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my hon. Frie...
Ian McCartney | 446 c563 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to be fair to all concerned. We have a regime to combat such practices, but if my hon. F...
Ian McCartney | 446 c561 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for those remarks. My constituency, like his, has been bedevilled by illegal ...
Richard Burden | 446 c560-1 (Link to this contribution) I certainly welcome the Birmingham pilot. My right hon. Friend will be aware of the case of Mr. Alan...
Ian McCartney | 446 c559-60 (Link to this contribution) As a former chairman of the Labour party, I am all for consensus with the Opposition. On this and ot...
Mark Prisk | 446 c559 (Link to this contribution) The Minister’s predecessor generously ensured that all the principal political parties could meet AP...
Paul Truswell | 446 c561 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is displaying his customary generosity in giving way. Many of the scams that he...
Ian McCartney | 446 c558 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend. When I visit the Yorkshire and Humberside region in the next few mo...
Ian McCartney | 446 c559 (Link to this contribution) In a few moments I shall give some good news about citizens advice bureaux. First, however, I have g...
Peter Bone | 446 c559 (Link to this contribution) Many people come to see me in my constituency about consumer problems, but they also visit the citiz...
Ian McCartney | 446 c558-9 (Link to this contribution) It will provide general advice and assistance. I shall explain later how the regime will develop in ...
Robert Smith | 446 c558 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that Consumer Voice would act as an advocate for the consumer. Will it be an advoc...
Mark Prisk | 446 c589 (Link to this contribution) While the Minister is preparing his release for the trade press, I want to return to the important p...
Michael Fabricant | 446 c582 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman recall that when we debated this issue 12 years ago we had a free vote? Does...
Tony Lloyd | 446 c581-2 (Link to this contribution) I probably did not explain my original point fully—I was talking about the customer, not the company...
Ian McCartney | 446 c583 (Link to this contribution) Although only a few Members have been present to participate in my comeback, I can genuinely say tha...
Ian McCartney | 446 c584 (Link to this contribution) I thought that that would wake the hon. Gentleman up.
Ian McCartney | 446 c565-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for trying for the second time in 18 years to be friendly to me. I, too, ...
Paul Truswell | 446 c557 (Link to this contribution) On Consumer Direct, which is a splendid initiative on which the Government should be congratulated, ...
Subjects
Complaints Consumers Competition Advisory services Protection Standards Consumer Direct
Link
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