§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection if he will make arrangements to monitor expenditure incurred by local trading standards departments in enforcing the Consumer Credit Act 1974; and if he will seek powers to reimburse these departments from licence fees received under the Act.
§ Mr. John FraserAt a recent meeting with local authority representatives, as part of a general discussion on implementation of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, I invited them to let me have their 375W best estimate of expenditure so incurred, but it is necessary to recognise that in many cases it is impracticable for local authorities to distinguish this area of work within their consumer protection duties as a whole. Payment for part only of local authority activity in enforcing consumer protection legislation from licence fees would be anomalous and inappropriate.
§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what has been the total cost to date to his Department of all work undertaken under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
§ Mr. John FraserBecause the staff concerned are not engaged full time on the Consumer Credit Act it is impossible to give an exact figure, but since the Royal Assent the cost, mainly staff costs, has been in the region of £240,000.