Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the level of unscrupulous money lending in (a) the UK, (b) East Midlands, (c) Nottinghamshire and (d) Ashfield in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an estimate about levels of unscrupulous money lending. The National Audit Office estimated that unaddressed detriment in the UK consumer credit market cost consumers £450m in 2011-12.
The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market. The new, more robust Financial Conduct Authority regime will help to deliver the Government's vision for a well functioning and sustainable consumer credit market which is able to meet consumers' needs.