Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)

My Lords, I take this opportunity to thank my noble friend the Minister for explaining clearly what this statutory instrument is about. I declare an interest as a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. I have some questions, about which I have already alerted the Minister. I actually alerted my noble friend Lord Livermore, thinking he would be answering on this, but I think he has passed them on. There is a concern that, while it is laudable that no charges will be involved for claimants who make direct contact with the Financial Ombudsman Service, which has proven to be an excellent service for people who have particular issues in the financial world, notwithstanding that, some people like the services of professional representatives. A recent survey found that 43% of people were likely to be vulnerable prior to financial scams—we are all beset by them—and 85% became vulnerable in the aftermath as the reality of the situation hits them and their mental health may deteriorate. Will the Minister outline the real reason for eradicating, in many instances, the middle person, the professional representative? That would be very useful. As we know, all professional representatives are regulated either by the Financial Conduct Authority or the SRA. Claims management companies are explicitly forbidden by regulations from bringing cases that do not have “a good arguable case”, or that are “frivolous or vexatious”. Therefore, firms are required to learn from the FOS approach to ensure that they do not continue to submit cases with an unrealistic chance of success. So why is the FOS not pushing regulators to enforce this more? The FOS would be better highlighting this to the regulators, which have the power to take heavy action against these firms. The ombudsman has the power to reject poor-quality submissions. Why is it not using this to a greater extent against the 10 firms that are particularly clogging up the system? Finally, could my noble friend the Minister advise, or come back by way of writing, on whether the Government intend to ameliorate the situation? Sometimes, people like the services of professional agents, notwithstanding their level of financial security, and would appreciate that, and they do not think that it is fair that the cost that has been levied on the professional claims person should be passed on to them.