Trading Standards and the Green Deal

Matt Hancock Excerpts

Tuesday 10th February 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Matthew Hancock)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Streeter. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith) for securing this debate on such an important issue. It shows that she is a powerful voice for her constituency, working with her constituents to stand up to those who engage in disreputable and unacceptable behaviour, and that the people of the northern part of Norwich who are treated badly on the phone should expect that their MP will come to their aid and ensure that the company in question is brought to account. It also raises an important issue that, as my hon. Friend says, is a problem not only in Norwich but across the nation.

Whenever we deliver a Government scheme, we think about how it can support consumer interests and how to protect consumers from people who would misuse such a scheme. I will come to the wider issues relating to the Telephone Preference Service, but first I want to discuss the green deal, which is a positive programme. We have had almost half a million assessments, around three quarters of which lead to people either making improvements or planning to make improvements to their properties to bring about energy efficiency savings that can be paid for through the reduced cost of energy bills. It is a successful programme—alongside the energy companies obligation—that is funded through bill payers, and it is rolling forward with a great, regular momentum throughout the country. I am glad that my hon. Friend supports it.

People must be able to use the green deal with confidence and trust, so we have a robust authorisation process for all green deal participants, with a comprehensive monitoring and compliance structure that sets out clearly the roles and responsibilities for all involved. Authorised participants must abide by a code of practice and comply with the green deal quality mark, which must be used on the marketing material of all green deal assessors, providers, installers and certification bodies. Organisations that are not authorised to trade as a green deal participant and work outside the framework and code of practice must be dealt with in exactly the same way as any other commercial rogue trader, and the company referred to by my hon. Friend is a rogue trader.

The green deal code and attached conditions state that cold calling telephone numbers that are registered with the TPS because those households do not want to be cold called is not permitted. The TPS is an important part of having a telephone directory and the phone system, because it ensures that people who do not want nuisance calls do not get them. I will come later to the wider issue of nuisance calls.

Where legislation has been breached, it is for trading standards to be the enforcement agency for the relevant consumer protection law and its related regulations. In the past month, the Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Amber Rudd), has written to the chairman of the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers to ensure that appropriate resources have been made available so that cases against rogue traders, particularly those who associate themselves with the green deal, are investigated thoroughly in a timely fashion. We have also sent out a joint communication with the chairman of the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers to remind green deal market participants that it is their responsibility to uphold the green deal framework and ensure that there is protection for all parties. I am happy to share that information with my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North and others.

The central point of this debate is that we must deal with companies that purport to be green deal participants but do not abide by the code. My hon. Friend mentioned a number of complaints about Tivium that she has received from her constituents—we have received a great deal of ministerial correspondence, including hundreds of cases throughout the country. It is totally unacceptable. Gateshead trading standards is currently leading an investigation into Tivium’s purported green deal activities. Along with the Financial Conduct Authority, we in the Department of Energy and Climate Change are supporting trading standards. I am sure that my hon. Friend understands that I cannot go into that ongoing investigation, but she should be in no doubt that where unacceptable behaviour has occurred, we will do everything we can to stamp it out. We want to protect the green deal’s integrity and reputation from rogue traders who have nothing to do with it and are simply behaving unacceptably.

It is worth mentioning that there have been a number of different cases, including one that concluded last month at Cardiff Crown court. The defendants were sentenced under consumer protection and unfair trading regulations for mis-selling the green deal scheme, failure to provide the correct cancellation rights and the unauthorised use of trade body logos. That shows that where organisations behave in such a manner, they will face prosecution. I hope that acts as a strong deterrent going forward and demonstrates that such behaviour is unacceptable.

[Chloe Smith]

I mentioned earlier that Norfolk county council trading standards told me that Tivium has 84 county court judgments against it, but I did not mention the second part of the sentence, which states that only three have been satisfied. While the Minister is talking about gaining redress through the courts, will he say how redress can be gained once a judgment has been issued and procedures need to be fulfilled?

[Matthew Hancock]

There is provision in the legislation to ensure that enforcement occurs. I would also add that the Information Commissioner’s Office has successfully prosecuted Tivium Ltd, and we are now in discussions about tackling the wider problem. The message from the Government for companies that are engaged in this sort of activity is absolutely crystal clear: “We will come after you, and you will not benefit from ripping off people across the country and purporting to be that which you are not.” As my hon. Friend said, it is tantamount to theft to require payment but not deliver anything in return. I can see her argument; she put the case powerfully. The appropriate place for prosecutions is within the structure that has already been set up. My hon. Friend asked what her constituents should do in these sorts of circumstances. Trading standards bodies are the best first port of call. They are co-ordinating nationally to ensure that Gateshead trading standards has all the necessary information.

On the wider issue of the Telephone Preference Service, we are working hard with the Information Commissioner’s Office—including meeting this week—to ensure that phone users’ rights in relation to the TPS are protected. That is part of a much wider cross-Government action. Last year, we put in place the action plan for nuisance calls. We consulted on various options from across Government to tackle the problem of nuisance calls, and we reported in December 2014 on the actions that need to be taken by Government, by regulators, by civil society and by companies. The nuisance calls action plan simplified how Ofcom can share information with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Insolvency Service on rogue companies.

Which? did a review of how consumers agree to receive calls from specific firms: they do not want general cold calls, but do want calls from specific firms. The Ministry of Justice has strengthened regulations regarding companies that breach the rules on nuisance calls, so there is a cross-Government action plan to ensure we are putting in place a robust framework to tackle nuisance calls. I will be happy to talk in more detail about that comprehensive plan, but it is vital that it is taken forward across Government and regulators, and also more broadly, to ensure that the problem is tackled at root.

[Chloe Smith]

I am aware of the action plan and pleased to hear the seriousness with which the Government take it. Will the Minister reflect on the problem of the ability of unscrupulous firms to call with a name that sounds plausible—for instance, the Energy Awareness Centre, Solar Panels Ltd or some other phrase constructed using familiar words? The name sounds about right, but is absolutely untraceable. The TPS has noted this on its website, where it has advice about how to tackle unwanted calls. Perhaps the Minister will reflect on the traceability question.

[Matthew Hancock]

I will certainly reflect on it. As with other behaviour that is without the rules, people can be ingenious in attempting to find new ways to break the rules. It is difficult to solve this problem once and for all, but I have no doubt that more action, as set out in the action plan, will help to tackle it. I am sure my hon. Friend will agree that we must keep up the pressure on the nuisance call action plan.

I want to assure my hon. Friend and all Members that we are doing all that we can to make sure rogue traders do not get away with mis-selling on the green deal, and, crucially, do not rip off consumers. There is always more that can be done, but we need to tackle the nuisance calls and such activity in a way that also allows us to promote and enhance the offer to the law-abiding, the responsible, and the companies that provide the green deal. They do so with a social conscience, in the best possible way, to help people reduce carbon emissions and their energy bills. Ultimately, this is an important area of policy to get right, and the public need to have confidence.

Finally, on the point about the names sounding plausible, there is a public list of authorised green deal participants for this specific area, which is searchable online, so consumers can verify and identify companies. The Department is working on making sure that more people know they can verify a green deal provider and check that the people they are doing business with have got a good track record. The internet is a very helpful tool for people to be able to do this in an unobtrusive and straightforward way. I hope that my hon. Friend will also continue to engage in the whole process, which is very important, of making sure that more and more people know who the good traders are. We must promote the good traders as well as tackling the rogue traders, and I look forward to working with her on that.

Question put and agreed to.