Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 139: 139: Clause 53 , page 31, leave out lines 29 to 31 The noble Baroness said: As it happens, 139 is the number of my favourite psalm. The purpose of this amendment is simply to probe the functions of subsection (6) of new Section 21A to be inserted into the 1979 Act. Currently, the subsection states that the Secretary of State may make provisions as to the manner in which permanent records are to be kept and the places at which they are to be kept. I was surprised to see that the Secretary of State will have the power to regulate how and where records are kept. While I welcome the efficient keeping of records and would be glad to see uniformity and accessibility across the board, I should be interested to find out what punishment such regulations could authorise for failure to keep them, and how such record keeping would be policed. Would policing these regulations be another task for the Office of Fair Trading? This seems to be micro-management at best and over-regulation at worst and I will listen with interest to the Minister’s explanation. I beg to move.