HC Deb 16 March 1981 vol 1 cc5-6
5. Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will refer to the Director General of Fair Trading the practice known as red-lining by which companies refuse to provide credit for purchases to all consumers living within a particular area.

Mrs. Sally Oppenheim

Red-lining is not, to the best of my knowledge, widespread. The Director General is, however, compiling information about credit scoring generally. If the hon. Gentleman has any information on red-lining, I am sure that it would interest the Director General.

Mr. Soley

Does the Minister accept that in my constituency recently the whole of the White City estate was red-lined by one company until a local newspaper, The Shepherds Bush Gazette, took up the matter? The practice is taking place both there and in other places. Will the Minister take a tougher line on it?

Mrs. Oppenheim

I have just overheard an hon. Member asking what red-lining means. I confess that until a recent National Consumer Council report brought the problem to my attention I thought that red-lining was a local Labour Party practice ruling out certain party candidates lacking the requisite qualifications. As a result of the report, I am aware that red-lining is a valid consumer problem. I hope that all decisions about whether to provide credit are based on sound commercial judgment and that, in principle, a person's creditworthiness is determined only on his or her merits.

It has been claimed that debt collecting can be especially hazardous in areas where there is persistent violence. However, that does not rule out the consideration that the practice is unfair to the individual consumer.

Mr. Skinner

If the Government do not have any red-linings to offer, what about some silver-linings? Is the Minister aware that during the past few days people in Bolsover and other constituencies in the North—and I suppose in the South also now—have been playing merry hell because they have not seen any silver-linings since the Government were elected 23 months ago?

Mrs. Oppenheim

I am well aware that the hon. Gentleman and his supporters would prefer that every cloud should have a red-lining.