Speeches by Glen.

“Public inquiries undoubtedly provide a significant mechanism to bring redress to enduring wrongs in the British state, but the cost of them and the lack of governance over them can mean that sometimes they cost extraordinary amounts of money. What conclusions is the Paymaster General coming to on how the Government ens…”

“Asbestos is widespread in public infrastructure. Asbestos-related diseases are the No. 1 cause of occupational death, with 5,000 a year—I lost my own father nearly 10 years ago. The right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), now the Minister for Social Security and Disability, said just four years ago that the…”

“I think you are contradicting yourself a bit. You are saying you are happy with the principle-based consumer duty, or the principle-based approach, but then immediately you have anxiety over the lack of comprehensiveness of what that means. The alternative is we go to a French system, where every single thing will be c…”

“That’s fine, thank you.”

“There has been a lot of commentary we get from industry. They say, “Look, if we are really going to experience a level of growth in this industry, we need to reset the balance of responsibilities in society. People need to take more responsibility for risk when they buy consumer products.” You have discussed in your pr…”

“Thank you; that is very helpful. Would Ms Rennie like to come in on this subject and say anything additionally?”

“Mr Daley, is there anything you would like to add on this? You were talking about the consumer duty before, and the FCA have obviously got quite a significant supervisory toolkit. Would you like to comment on where that sits alongside this reform and how you see them working together?”

“So it is the statutory protections going that you are anxious about?”

“Yes.”

“Will be the ones who take it up?”

“Ms Rennie, you had your hand up just now. Is there anything you wanted to say on this subject?”

“I have heard what you have said about AI and that is helpful evidence. On the issue of targeted advice, by allowing firms to essentially offer ready-made financial suggestions to some consumer groups, they are giving potentially better outcomes for consumers who otherwise hitherto would not have got them. If 63% of fir…”

“That is really helpful. I will pass on to Bobby Dean, because this is his specialist subject.”

“I feel I am neglecting the panellists online. Ms Pardoe, would you like to come in on this point, in terms of what you see as the good and bad of targeted support?”

“I could speak to any of at least half a dozen CEOs of financial services firms who would express it exactly as I have said.”

“So they are not right—they are mistaken?”

“I want to turn to the Consumer Credit Act and what should be reformed there. I declare I was Economic Secretary for a while, and even back in 2020-21 Treasury officials were bringing me plans to look at this. In Sarah Pritchard’s evidence to the Committee recently, there was a suggestion that this legislation, which wa…”

“You wanted that!”

“But on your point about the way it has worked hitherto with the ombudsman, in essence individual decisions are made and they are seen to give precedence—even though they are supposed to treat them all individually—and they actually store up lots of unresolved matters for certain sections of the industry. Is that not th…”

“Can we turn to motor finance? The motor finance redress scheme is projected to cost £9.1 billion. Say a consumer agreed a monthly payment that met their needs and they received full use of a vehicle, and they carried on doing that for 10 years. How do you reconcile that reality where they did not express any anxiety—th…”