Ann McKechin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann McKechin on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to improve levels of customer service in UK businesses.

Jenny Willott

Well-functioning, competitive markets encourage growth by creating incentives for firms to become more efficient and innovative to compete for customers including through better service quality. Markets can only be fully competitive if consumers are active and confident, meaning that they are willing to challenge firms to provide a better deal, switch between suppliers, and take up new products.

That is why this Government has undertaken the most fundamental reform to the competition and consumer landscape in decades to make the UK’s already world class market framework fit for the future. That has included establishing a new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), streamlining the landscape of Government-funded consumer organisations to put Citizen’s Advice at its centre, and overhauling the UK framework of consumer rights through the Consumer Rights Bill.