The Consumer Policy Institute - It’s new but what will it do?

This Autumn sees the launch of the Consumer Policy Institute - 
based at Brunet University under the direction of Professor Geoffrey Woodroffe.

The Institute is mostly the brain child of Marie Jennings MBE, the immediate past Chairman of NfCG and now a Vice President. She has enlisted the help of some influential people as Patrons: Baroness Wilcox, President of NfCG and also of the Trading Standards Institute and a former Chairman of NCC, Lord Borrie, former Director General of The Office of Fair Trading and Lord Joffe, a human rights lawyer, Chairman of OXFAM and a member of the Royal Commission for the Care of the Elderly. This is an exciting NfCG initiative and sounds very grand, but what will it do? The Institute has already published a leaflet setting out its aims which are:

• to add to the understanding of government, business and the public about the key consumer issues of the day by identifying these with the purpose of securing fairness for consumers,
• to empower consumers to increase awareness as to how government, business and the organisations which represent their interests work. Increasing awareness as to how the organisations which represent our interests work will be particularly important in view of the shake-up that is going on at the moment, involving the National Consumer Council, Consumer Congress and the Consumers in Europe Group (CEG).

How will it work? Again, quoting from the leaflet we read that it will:

• use the recognised, accepted consumer principles and ethical and social criteria to guide Institute policy,
• work with public interest organisations, government, business and academic institutions,
• commission and carry out research on consumer issues,
• encourage improved dialogue between the suppliers of goods and services and consumers, by demonstrating that it will be of mutual benefit.
• help consumers, in groups and as individuals, to make their voices heard.

Structure:

The Institute will be a company limited by guarantee with Professor Geoffrey Woodroffe, a solicitor, as its Director who is, conveniently, Director of the Centre for Consumer and Commercial Law Research at Brunet University. The governing Board of Directors will include people representing organisations in the consumer movement, business and academia. These already include Marie Jennings, Sue Jex (HSBC), Susan Knox (CEG), Karl Snowden (Zurich Financial Services), Colin Thompson (Money Management Council), Simon Ward (Whitbread) and, of course, Professor Woodroffe.

The Management Board will be advised by an Advisory Council drawn from leaders in consumer affairs, the academic world and business. The Council, chaired by Lady Wilcox, will meet two or three times a year to guide the Board on polity issues and to identify new issues for the Board to consider.

Already Maurice Healy, Valerie Howarth OBE, Patricia Mann OBE, Jan Walsh, and Diana Whitworth have accepted invitations to sit on the Council while the Office of Fair Trading, the Treasury, the DTI, the Financial Services Authority and the Food Standards Agency will send senior officials as observers.

But what will it actually do?

Plenty of thought has gone into preparing an initial work programme. The Institute will study, in particular, how business and government departments can work better with consumers in developing policies which will enhance fair trading and mutually effective consumer relations. It already has in mind several important themes:

• Self Regulation. To assess internationally the effects of codes of practice on large and small businesses and upon consumer confidence.
• Cross Border Shopping. To analyse the social, economic and legal aspects of shopping, including by e-mail, for goods and services across borders.
• Buying Water. The question is, to meter or not to meter? To study the effects, both economical and environmental, of water metering. 

The Institute plans to disseminate information about consumer issues and will assemble a database of consumer affairs work. It will commission its own research projects and will undertake projects for others in the public or private sector and will publish an annual summary of work.

How to get in touch?

You have enthusiasm for an indispensable new research project and you have, at last, found a body which may be able to help you. You can contact Professor Woodroffe in several ways.

By mail - The Consumer Policy Institute, Centre for Consumer and Commercial Law Research, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex. UB8 3PH.

By phone - 01895 203069 - by fax 01895 203085 - by e-mail - cpi@nfc.info

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