Gas Market Fraud

Debate between Ed Davey and Jonathan Evans

Tuesday 13th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his contribution. He is right to say that, if we find that the regulator needs more powers, we will act. I have made that absolutely clear. He is also right to mention the issues arising from the Wheatley review and the LIBOR issue. We need to ensure that the price reference agencies, the benchmarks and the indices that are used extensively in a variety of financial and commodity markets are properly considered in the reviews. Martin Wheatley has made a number of recommendations, the European Commission has produced a consultation paper on these matters and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions is looking into them, so there is international work being done. The right hon. Gentleman is quite right to say that we must ensure that our domestic regulation and international regulation are able to tackle these issues.

[Jonathan Evans (Cardiff North) (Con)]

Are the Government not in the curious position of rather wishing that the European regulation was already in force? Will the Secretary of State tell the House what the penalties would be under the remit regulation? I guess that they would be far greater than those left by the Labour Government.

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend is right; this is an excellent EU regulation, on which we have been leading the way and which we believe has a great role to play. The regulation might not be relevant to these allegations or to the particular abuse, if abuse is found. I do not want to prejudge the investigations by Ofgem and the FSA, but he is right to say that the coalition Government are taking action to stiffen regulation in this area.

Consumer Focus Wales

Debate between Ed Davey and Jonathan Evans

Wednesday 14th September 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Davey]

I understand how my hon. Friend feels about that point. I hope that we can come to some agreement, not just in this debate but in due course. We want to give consumers and others greater clarity about who is championing their rights. Consumers need to know who their advocate is. We want to increase the impact of publicly funded consumer advocacy domestically and internationally and to reduce overlap. We want all that to be delivered by a known and trusted organisation with high visibility and outreach. I will talk tomorrow to the Welsh Minister, Carl Sargent, about the issue. I hope that that indicates to colleagues that we are taking Welsh concerns seriously.

Citizens Advice in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is widely recognised and trusted by the public. In the surveys, its brand recognition is extremely strong and it is extremely well trusted. That is one reason why we have shaped the consultation as we have. It is a distinct advantage for an organisation with such strong recognition and trust to be up front, championing the consumer.

[Jonathan Evans]

I will be brief, as I am looking at the time. As the Minister is praising Citizens Advice, in which we all join him, I will share with him the observation that Citizens Advice is under great pressure. Other Members of Parliament and I are now seeing people who cannot get into Citizens Advice surgeries. Is he taking account of Citizens Advice’s capacity to take on the responsibility?

[Mr Davey]

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman made that point, as it enables me to clarify something that has been slightly confused in this debate. One must remember that at the moment, Citizens Advice has a national organisation, which undertakes much of its research for consumers, and local bureaux. We are talking about the national organisation, Citizens Advice, taking forward the work of Consumer Focus and other organisations to ensure a powerful research and expertise base for advocacy, education and information at the national level.