Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the contribution of 29 March 2017 by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Official Report, column 196WH, what progress has been made on exploring the option of introducing a Breathing Space scheme for families affected by problem debt.

The government fully supports the principles of better debt management and lower levels of problem debt. This government has a manifesto commitment to introduce a statutory breathing space that would give heavily indebted consumers a period of respite from enforcement action, and further interest and charges for a period of up to six weeks. Where appropriate, they will be offered a statutory repayment plan to help them pay back their debts in a sustainable way. We will outline further information on how this policy could be implemented in due course.