Consumer Credit Bill

My Lords, I must apologise for coming in so late on this Bill. My only excuse is that, as my party’s only spokesman in this House, I have to cover all the legislation that comes to us and it is not always easy to catch up with it in time. If I had been able to put down my Amendment No. 3A earlier, I have no doubt that it would have been grouped for debate with these amendments, as it deals with the same point, although it goes into considerably more detail and, indeed, goes further. I very much welcome the amendment that has just been spoken to. Whether I go on to move Amendment No. 3A depends very much on whether the Government’s reply deals with the points that my amendment raises. I think that there is a strong case for including in the Bill the various matters that I have covered in my amendment, especially the extent to which the personal and financial circumstances, health and literacy of the debtor are taken into account by the creditor. However, I will wait to hear what the Minister has to say.