Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the roll-out of universal credit on levels of personal debt.

The Government has taken a number of steps to reduce the risk of problem debt, including capping payday lending costs and promoting savings.

Within Universal Credit, we also have interest free advances and a system of priority deductions to help claimants who have got into arrears.