§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he is in a position to make a statement on the future treatment of business lending and hiring under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
§ Mr. MaudeAs stated in the White Paper "Building Businesses … not Barriers" the Government have been studying the treatment of business lending and hiring under the Act. At present the Act regulates any credit or hire agreement, within the financial limits of the Act, where the borrower or hirer is not a body corporate. It has been strongly argued by major lenders that the application of the Act to some business credit is harmful both to lenders and to small businesses themselves and can give rise to anomalies. My Department has consulted organisations representing small businesses on a possible change to the Act to exclude all credit for business purposes and this proposal has been generally welcomed. We have therefore decided that the Act should be amended to exclude all credit and hire for business purposes and we will make this change to the Act, together with other changes to simplify and clarify the Act's provisions, as soon as there is a suitable opportunity.