Lord Deben (Con)

I wonder whether I could refer to yesterday’s implementation of the additional sanction arrangements on letting agents and the like. This is very welcome, because there is no doubt that there has been a very considerable use of housing and the like as a means of establishing funds in this country by people who should not be doing that. I am concerned about whether the Government can do more to help the letting agents and others explain this to the people who are not really affected, but who have to give all sorts of information which they would not have had to give before. It is very important to overcome the natural irritation which, for example, we have now when you want a bank account and difficulties arise. Because of this, I hope there can be discussions between the Government and the real estate industry across the board as to the form of words that could be used, so that when people are faced with this additional burden, they can say to themselves, “I am doing something useful. I am doing something because of what is happening in Ukraine”, and make it into a positive action. I have just read the documents that have gone out from letting agencies, and I fear that it just looks like another burden on people’s shoulders. I want to make this a success. Can we get the language right, and can we use it as a positive mechanism?