§ Mr. Kenneth Bakerasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the report of the Crowther Committee on Consumer Credit.
§ Mr. John DaviesThe Report was published today. I am most grateful to Lord Crowther and his colleagues for the thorough and conscientious way in which they have carried out their task and for all the hard work they have put into their Report.
This is the first comprehensive official review of the whole area of consumer credit ever undertaken and will be of the utmost value. The conclusions of the Report will be carefully studied by the Government, including, of course, the recommendation that "terms control" 137W over hire-purchase transactions should be abolished.
The various laws regulating the rights of lenders and borrowers in consumer credit transactions are widely recognised to be in need of reform. Before the Government come to a view on many of the Committee's recommendations, we should wish to have extensive consultations with the interests concerned. These consultations will take some time but will begin immediately. I shall welcome the views of all interested parties.