§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will propose to timeshare developers the inclusion with their sales literature of his Department's recently published consumer leaflet, entitled "Your Place in the Sun, or is it, The Time Share Buyer's Check List"; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardI have no plans at present to make such a proposal. But several timeshare developers have already requested and been sent supplies of the leaflet, which I understand they will be issuing to their customers.
§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what investigation his Department has made of the practice of time share developers offering unsolicited gifts to potential customers apparently picked at random and approached directly; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardThe offering of "gifts" in return for viewing a time share development or attending a presentation is a form of sales promotion and as such is 749W controlled by means of the British code of sales promotion practice. The code is administered by the Advertising Standards Authority.
My Department has referred a number of such cases to the authority for investigation and the authority has secured changes in the wording of promotional literature of certain companies operating in this way.