(2) whether the Office of Fair Trading undertook an impact assessment in respect of its proposals to require estate agents to register under the terms of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what research (a) his Department and (b) the Office of Fair Trading have undertaken on the effect on the estate agency sector of the implementation of the registration requirements under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007;
(4) what estimate the Office of Fair Trading has made of the annual administrative costs of operating the system of estate agent registration in compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.
The Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) registration scheme for money laundering was launched on 31 July. No fees were sought or received prior to 31 July. Forecasts for fee levels in 2010/11 onwards are subject to future public consultation (to start in January 2010). The OFT will be seeking input on its future supervisory approach and fee structures to support supervisory activity. Future costs and fee levels have not yet been estimated. The OFT receives no central funding for its anti-money laundering supervisory role. The regime has to be self funding and the OFT can recover its reasonable costs through fees. The consultation will enable the firms supervised by the OFT to influence future costs.
Regarding the hon. Member's questions in relation to impact assessments and research on the effect of registration on the estate agency sector, I refer to my answer of 21 July, Official Report, column 1676W.
The OFT does not have a figure solely for the administrative costs of operating the system of estate agent registration. This is because there is no differentiation made in the OFT's budget for anti-money laundering between estate agents or Consumer Credit Financial Institutions. The OFT estimates that the cost of setting up and operating the OFT's money laundering registration in 2009/10 is as follows:
Staff costs: £397,000
Non-staff costs: £407,000
Total: £804,000
This figure does not include (i) any costs for corporate support such as IT, finance or accommodation, which is totalled elsewhere in the budget, (ii) recovery of the set-up costs from 2008/09 associated with registration, or (iii) the estimated cost for 2009/10 associated with the operation of the registration system since registration launch on 31 July, which is £150,000. Forecasts for administration costs in 2010/11 onwards are subject to future public consultation and will be dependent on the proportion of firms who register with OFT during the initial six month registration period. These costs have not, as yet, been estimated.