§ 12. Mr. Brandon-BravoTo the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to ensure that customers are better informed about credit deals.
§ Mr. LeighThe Government's plans on this matter are described in the consultative document "Proposals for New Legislation on Credit Marketing", which was published in December.
§ Mr. Brandon-BravoI acknowledge that the Government cannot play nanny, nor can they always protect people from their own folly, but there are measures that we can and should take. Will the Minister comment on some of the techniques of inertia and cold selling which offer people all sorts of things on credit, using simple forms on which one must tick a little box if one does not want them? These are techniques which many simple people do not understand and which cause them to get themselves into unnecessary difficulties.
§ Mr. LeighI agree with my hon. Friend. Although we cannot be a nanny state, I think that a successful market is a well-informed one. Inertia selling is a matter of fine judgment because many of those boxes are designed, according to the people who provide credit services, to protect the consumer through insurance schemes; but I decided to prohibit inertia selling because it is wrong that someone should be required to undertake a contract without having positively requested so to do.