Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mike Freer and Mark Hoban

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)]

T10. People with HIV report poor levels of understanding of their condition by Atos assessors. This may be because the guidance is outdated and lacks information on living with HIV. Will Ministers be monitoring the guidance issued on such conditions?

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. One of Professor Harrington’s recommendations was that the medical directors of charities review the guidance and some of the bases of assessment for conditions. I can assure him that the guidance for HIV/ AIDS is being reviewed by the medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Financial Services Bill

Debate between Mike Freer and Mark Hoban

Tuesday 22nd May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

I would not say that amendment 73 sowed seeds of hope. Rather, it sowed seeds of doubt by suggesting that those powers were not available. Of course they are available. I have written to hon. Members in respect of Arch Cru and also about interest rate swaps recently, setting out the work that the FSA is doing in this regard. It is looking carefully at the sales practices of a number of institutions in respect of interest rate swaps and will take action, as appropriate. I can reassure my hon. Friends and those who take a close interest in these matters on behalf of their constituents and businesses in their constituency that the FSA has the powers that it needs to tackle these issues properly and fully and to get to the bottom of them.

[Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)]

Sadly, I am none the wiser. I have three constituency cases in front of me on this very issue. Two of them include a letter from the FSA which clearly states that this is a matter for the courts to decide and is not part of its remits under the complaints procedure. Can my hon. Friend clarify why the FSA is telling constituents that it is a matter for the courts, but he says it is a matter for the FSA?

[Mr Hoban]

There are two issues here. There is a route through the courts that any type of consumer, whether retail or a business, can use if they have been mis-sold a product. That is a normal commercial right. What the FSA has identified as a consequence of the number of complaints on the issue that it has received from businesses is that it needed to undertake more work. It started that work in mid-March. It was looking at products that were sold in the run-up to the financial crisis, and as a consequence of its investigations it believed that more work was needed to establish the scale of the problem and to determine what action should be taken.

There is nothing contradictory about the letter that the FSA sent. Thanks to the efforts of a number of hon. Members who raised with the FSA the concerns of businesses in their constituency, it recognised that they were not just isolated examples and that there was a wider issue that needed to be addressed. Its powers under FSMA enable it to address the problem in the right way. That is a welcome step forward by the FSA.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mike Freer and Mark Hoban

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)]

T2. The Financial Services Authority’s mortgage market review stated:“Our existing regulatory framework has been shown to be ineffective”and that“regulatory reform is needed to reduce the probability and severity of future financial crises”.Does the Minister agree?

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban)]

My hon. Friend is right. The mortgage market needs reform, but it needs stability as well, which is why I welcome the statement by the FSA today. It says that it will not introduce reforms this year and will take into account overall economic stability before it introduces any further changes. It has also made it clear that lenders should not pre-empt any conclusions from its review.