As ever, I start by thanking noble Lords for their amendments and all who spoke for their important and considered contributions. On Amendment 104 on right to repair, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, it has been a great pleasure to discuss this with her during this process and, indeed, since Committee. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Leong, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Bakewell and Lady Bennett, for their impassioned contributions on this issue.

Noble Lords may recall from Committee that there is much excellent work under way in this area across government, involving in my department, Defra, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Waste prevention and eco-design are two key strands of this work. As well as this cross-government work, Defra, which published Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste last year, is currently setting up the necessary programme management and governance functions around that work, and will work closely with other government departments, including those with a consumer perspective, to achieve these goals. I appreciate the point that there is a lot to co-ordinate here, and I hope that this governance will reassure noble Lords that the problem is being gripped. The Government will also set out in a future publication how each scheme interacts and adds up into a coherent whole.

I appreciate the point that the noble Baroness made about Northern Ireland, and we will of course consider carefully the implications of new EU regulations in Northern Ireland. Naturally, we will adopt an approach that best suits the UK circumstances when designing our own regulations; we are always open to allowing for more or less any objective that would even improve on the EU’s regime.

While I am sympathetic to the intent of these amendments, the Government’s view is that there is already a strategic framework in place for supporting right to repair. I greatly appreciate all the work that the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, is doing in this space. Of course, her continued input would be greatly welcomed as this work progresses. I have said to her before that we are violently agreeing on the need for this to happen, and I am very happy to work with her to move forward.

I turn to Amendment 108, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, relating to third-party agents. I would like once again to reassure him that the protections sought in these amendments are mostly provided for elsewhere in consumer law. Clauses 225 and 227 prohibit traders using misleading actions or aggressive practices, including influencing a consumer’s decision on whether to use a third party. A particular dispute between an airline and an online travel agent has often been raised, including in Committee, when discussing this issue.

The CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that businesses are behaving anti-competitively in a particular market. It is right that those matters be determined by the CMA as it sees fit, which means that I cannot comment on its work—but I can assure the noble Lord that it is alive to this issue. More broadly, we have recently consulted on the package travel regulations that govern many of these sectors, and I look forward to sharing the response to the call for evidence.

I turn to the issue of invitation to purchase, and thank my noble friend Lord Lindsay for his Amendment 115, as well as the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, for her contribution on this issue. The amendment would remove the requirement that a price is provided before an action is considered an invitation to purchase. Actions that are considered an invitation to purchase attract specific consumer rights. The Government believe that the changes proposed by this amendment would expand the definition too far, rendering the invitation to purchase provisions unworkable in practice. The Government are confident that sufficient legal protection is already in place for circumstances in which vulnerable customers engage rogue traders to undertake services on their behalf. In the Consumer Rights Act 2015 there are pre-contract information obligations on traders to provide identity and contact details. Nevertheless, I draw your Lordships’ attention to my commitment for officials to continue to work with noble Lords to identify practical measures to support trading standards officers.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, raised an important point about VAT. I can provide an assurance that pricing information must already include any relevant taxes, including VAT, and VAT and pricing information is also subject to the Price Marking Order that the Government consulted on last year. We will introduce secondary legislation to improve transparency, including on all taxes.

I turn to government Amendments 107 and 119 on the topic of fake reviews, and shall also respond to Amendments 107B and 109 tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and my noble friend Lord Lindsay. I am grateful to them for their amendments, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, and the noble Lord, Lord Leong, for their input on this important matter.

Government Amendment 107 adds commercial practices related to fake reviews to the list of banned practices in Schedule 19. These prohibit the submitting and commissioning of fake reviews and require traders that publish consumer reviews to take reasonable steps to prevent the publication of fake reviews. On Amendment 107A tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, having engaged with platforms such as Trustpilot, we understand concerns about platforms allowing fake review bartering to happen on their sites. When intermediary platforms are aware of fake review banned practices being offered on their sites and do not take action, they may already be liable for a breach of the professional diligence unfair commercial practice in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which are being restated in this Bill. The Government have held a round-table meeting with online platforms to make sure that these responsibilities are understood, and we will continue to do so.

As regards Amendment 107B, the Government’s amendment provides a non-exhaustive list of what publishing reviews in a misleading way may involve. This list will be expanded on in guidance produced by the CMA, including how businesses that may want to highlight their most positive consumer reviews can do so in ways that do not mislead consumers.

The noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, raised the important issue of criminal liability. Government Amendment 119 excludes the new banned practices from criminal liability, as misrepresenting reviews and publishing fake reviews are already covered through the prohibitions on misleading actions and omissions in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. These are being restated in this Bill and carry criminal liability. Further criminal sanctions may be available under the Fraud Act and other legislation when the relevant requirements are met. It is not the Government’s intention to proliferate new criminal sanctions. I hope that the reassurance that existing criminal sanctions are already available helps the noble Lord to understand our approach.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, raised the issue of websites selling products that do not arrive or even exist. This is a case of fraud or misleading trading under consumer law, and of course the Fraud Act already deals with it. Further measures on fake reviews are therefore not necessary. These government amendments build on extensive consultation and the clear view expressed in Committee.

Government Amendments 112 to 114 add provisions to address drip pricing. These amendments will require traders to present consumers with the total price of a product, including all unavoidable fees, taxes and charges that must be paid by all consumers, rather than drip-feeding such charges through the purchasing process. They also clarify that when unavoidable fees cannot be reasonably calculated in advance, such as delivery fees, traders must set out the existence of such fees and how they are calculated with the total price. These amendments build on much-appreciated and widespread input from this House, and I hope they will be supported.

I turn now to product safety in online marketplaces and Amendments 105, 106, 110, 111 and 120 from the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. Existing UK product safety law is clear: all products must be safe, including those sold online. However, we recognise the challenge that the growth of e-commerce poses to product safety. The Government recently consulted on proposals as part of the product safety review. We are analysing consultation responses and considering feedback from extensive engagement with organisations and stakeholders. These will inform policy development ahead of the government response later this year. I will confirm in writing to the noble Lord, Lord Leong, when the working group on product safety last met. Product safety legislation already covers a range of product safety issues in detail and includes product categories broader than those linked to the supply of products to consumers in this Bill.

I now turn to secondary ticketing and Amendment 150 on ticketing and Amendment 151 on trustees from my noble friend Lord Moynihan. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Leong, for his contribution on this issue. It is already a criminal offence for traders to offer for sale a product that cannot be legally sold. Therefore, we do not see these measures adding significantly to existing protection against fraud or mis-selling. I can assure noble Lords that the Government are committed to protecting consumers from fraudulent activity in the secondary ticketing market. In fact, even in the last few hours, four touts have been found guilty by a court in Leeds, using the existing powers and legislation. As I hope noble Lords would agree, we want the focus to be on consumer choice and using powers to enforce existing law, rather than creating further legislation for uncertain gain.

The Government’s analysis is that it is the gift of the primary market to limit, or stop entirely, the secondary market, if that is what it wishes to do. Some event organisers have successfully managed their sales and marketing to inhibit resale of their tickets. To give an example, as an avid sports fan, I go to Murrayfield and my ticket is a personal ticket with my name and seat number on it. If I am found to have sold it on to someone else at a higher price, I will lose any right to further tickets. In contrast, I am going to Munich on 14 June for the opening match of Euro 2024, where I hope Scotland will turn over Germany, and in that particular case I do not have a named ticket. Indeed, I was not able to get a ticket and I have in fact accessed the secondary market—and I will not be able to tell your Lordships’ House until the day before whether those tickets are legal or not.

I also observe that a large number of the promoters of pop concerts—for example, for Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Iron Maiden and Glastonbury—are now putting in place restrictions on primary market sales, which can be done using technology, ID, mobile phones, et cetera. I would therefore submit to this House that the legislation is currently in place and we should focus our attention on putting pressure on the organisers of these events to use existing legislation to prevent the unfair secondary market. In the meantime, however, we also have consumer choice, and I exercise my right to try to get to the match on 14 June.

I turn to consumer savings schemes and Amendment 141. I shall also briefly address the remaining government amendments in this group. Government Amendment 141 extends protections for users of consumer savings schemes to include bankruptcy orders, winding-up orders, and the appointment of liquidators and administrative receivers. This ensures that consumers are safeguarded across a more comprehensive range of insolvency events, as originally intended.

Government Amendments 142 to 149 are minor and technical amendments to Clause 297 on alternative dispute resolution—ADR. They clarify that any variation made by the Secretary of State to an ADR provider’s accreditation must be considered necessary to return the ADR provider to compliance and must be kept under review.

Finally, government Amendments 116 and 117 implement the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee that the affirmative procedure be applied to all exercises of the power in Clause 232, not just the first. We are grateful for the committee’s scrutiny and agree that the higher level of parliamentary scrutiny is appropriate for changes to consumer redress rights.

In conclusion, I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, the noble Baronesses, Lady Hayman, Lady Crawley and Lady Bakewell, and my noble friends Lord Moynihan and Lord Lindsay for their amendments and contributions. I hope, however, that they feel satisfied by my responses and will not feel the need to press their amendments.