Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help people in Dudley with problem debt.

The government is committed to supporting people in problem debt. We have established the Money and Pensions Service to provide free-to-use support on all aspects of people’s financial lives and have increased public funding for free professional debt advice to almost £56m this year, providing support to?560,000 people in England.

But there is more to do to support people who fall into problem debt. We are delivering a 60-day breathing space period that will see enforcement action from creditors halted and interest frozen for people with problem debt. We expect over 700,000 people to benefit from breathing space in its first year alone.

And to help prevent debt problems, the government is bringing together the UK’s world-leading fintech sector with community and social lenders through the Affordable Credit Challenge Fund to develop technological solutions that raise awareness of and access to affordable credit as an alternative to high-cost lenders.