Compensation Bill [Lords]

I could hardly have handed the right hon. Gentleman the question, but the next line in my speech is: we have considered various options on the best way in which to proceed, including whether there should be a role for the Claims Standards Council. I can confirm that the Department for Constitutional Affairs will initially regulate the industry directly. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be the regulator. The core elements of direct regulation will be: the Secretary of State as regulator, with day-to-day responsibility for regulation delegated to a civil servant with the appropriate skills and experience; a monitoring and compliance function, contracted out to a trading standards unit responsible for supporting the Secretary of State in carrying out authorisation, monitoring, complaints and enforcement; and a non-statutory advisory committee made up of representatives of the financial services and insurance industries, the legal profession, consumer groups and the claims management sector. Our prime concern is to safeguard consumer interests. To that end, those wishing to provide claims management services will be required to seek authorisation from the regulator. The system will have teeth. As a condition of authorisation, authorised persons will be required to comply with strict rules and any person breaking those rules risks having their authorisation suspended or removed. There will be a clear mechanism for dealing with consumer complaints and authorised persons will need to have indemnity insurance. I hope that that covers the right hon. Gentleman’s question.