Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

My Lords, I apologise for speaking in the gap. I did not put my name down to speak because I thought the debate would go on for rather longer and I would not have time to stay for the winding-up speeches. I want to discuss two Welsh issues. My noble friend Lord O’Neill has discussed Scottish issues, and my noble friend Lord Whitty glanced at the issues that I want to discuss. The first is the remit of the new Welsh Consumer Council, which is defined in the Bill as a ““territorial committee””—language that is not much appreciated west of the Severn, but let us leave that aside—of the new National Consumer Council. The purpose of this committee is, "““the provision of advice and information to the Council about consumer matters affecting the area for which the committee is established””." This does not reflect the policy development role exercised by the current Welsh Consumer Council. I know that a further subsection allows the National Consumer Council to delegate and to devolve other functions to the new Welsh Consumer Council, but I believe that my noble friend would be right to consider that the core functions defined in the Bill for the National Consumer Council, so far as they affect Wales, should be part of the remit of the Welsh Consumer Council and should therefore be put into the Bill as such. The second issue is the relationship between Welsh Ministers and the National Assembly for Wales, which is a devolved issue. The Bill requires the National Consumer Council, rather than the new Welsh Consumer Council, to send a copy of its forward work programme to Welsh Ministers. All that is a step back from the current devolved issue, and I very much hope that the Minister will take it upon himself to reconsider the clauses and to see whether we cannot do better than this in Committee.