Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on the adequacy of the information on FCA authorised and regulated commercial debt solutions providers in the information sheet sent by lenders to all customers in arrears under section 86 of the Consumer Credit Act and FCA Consumer Credit Sourcebook 7.3.7A.

The Government is committed to ensuring that consumers who need to access free-to-user debt advice can do so quickly and easily.

That is why the Government commissioned the Money Advice Service (MAS), which spent just under £49m on over 440,000 free-to-user debt advice sessions last year, and why the FCA’s information sheet signposts to this support. The Government is also merging MAS, PensionWise and The Pensions Advisory Service to create a new single financial guidance body, to make it simpler for consumers to access this support.