§ 51. Mr. MichaelTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what means his Department is using to monitor the scale of personal and family debt problems; what is his latest estimate of the scale of such problems and what is his policy on the provision of advice and counselling for people with debt problems.
§ Mr. NewtonMy Department has access to information on debt problems from a variety of sources. Under section 1(2) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 the Director-General of Fair Trading has a statutory duty to advise on social and commercial developments relating to the provision of credit. I have carefully considered the views expressed by the Director-General from time to time, for example in the introduction to his most recent report to Parliament.
My Department has also been informed of the results of 235W the survey on the use of credit which was commissioned by the Office of Fair Trading and was published in August 1988. Information on debt problems is available from sources such as major organisations of lenders, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, the National Consumer Council and Familybase. The information available suggests that while a significant number of individuals have encountered debt problems, from a variety of causes, the proportion of users of consumer credit who encounter such problems remains small.
A great deal of advice and help on debt problems is provided free of charge by citizens advice bureaux. The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) and Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) are funded by my Department. Their budget in the current financial year is £9.365 million. They have been encouraged to seek additional funding money advice services from the finance industry and already money has been pledged for four