Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of market competition in the consumer credit rating sector.

The government recognises the significant role of healthy competition in markets in giving consumers access to services and products of high quality, supporting business growth and the wider economy. Responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition concerns falls to the Competition Markets Authority (“CMA”), the UK’s independent competition authority. The government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act to ensure markets remain competitive, and consumers are protected from unfair or exploitative market practices.