Written question asked by Jim Cousins (Labour) on Tuesday, 13 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 15 December 2005. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Monday, 19 December 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Over-indebtedness

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he has taken as a result of his tackling over-indebtedness action plan of 2004; what further research and monitoring he carried out further to Annex D of the action plan; and what the results were.

Answer: Actions taken as a result of the tackling over-indebtedness action plan of 2004 are set out in ““Tackling Over-indebtedness—Annual Report 2005”” published in August 2005 (available in the Libraries of the House and on the DTI website: http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topicsl/overindebtedness.htm#report2005). Research carried out further to the 2004 plan is summarised in Annex C of the 2005 annual report. Monitoring of progress against the action plan is included in the annual report, with additional monitoring of the high level factors which influence levels of over-indebtedness reviewed on a quarterly basis (and published on the DTI website: http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topicsl/overindebtedness.htm#monitorql05). The results of these exercises are set out in the documents referred to and enclosed references.

Secondary information