Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) publicise and (b) support debt advice services.

The government-commissioned Money Advice Service (MAS) funds centrally-coordinated, publicly-funded debt advice. MAS spent just under £49m to provide over 440,000 debt advice sessions in 2016-17. This year, MAS’ budget will rise to over £56m – enough to provide support to 530,000 people.

To support this work, the government is also setting up a new single financial guidance body, which will bring together public-funded money and pensions guidance, and debt advice services. The new body will enable the public to get support with all aspects of their financial lives quickly and easily.