Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding by the Centre for Social Justice in its report entitled Collecting dust, published in April 2020, that the personal debt owed to the Government and public bodies under the remit of his Department is £13.5 billion.

We welcome the Centre for Social Justice’s report, which highlights that progress has been made in government debt management and suggests further areas for improvement. The Centre for Social Justice report notes the work of the government Fairness Group, the Breathing Space policy and reduction in the rate of benefit deductions as recent advances.

The Government Debt Management Function will be launching a Call for Evidence in due course to gather views on the current debt management approach.

I would encourage the Centre for Social Justice, along with other interested parties to also submit evidence through the Call for Evidence.