Written question asked by Lord Bellingham (Conservative) on Tuesday, 5 May 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 11 May 2009. It was answered by Bridget Prentice (Labour) on Monday, 11 May 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Debts: Enforcement Restriction Orders

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effects of enforcement restriction orders issued by the judicial system on the payment protection insurance market.

Answer: The statutory provisions creating the Enforcement Restriction Order (ERO) are not yet in force. EROs would be available to support those with short-term financial problems only and only where the court was satisfied that there were realistic prospects of recovery that would allow normal commitments to be met within six months.In view of these tight qualifying criteria it is unlikely that many people would qualify for such an order. On that basis it would have a negligible impact on the payment protection insurance market.

Secondary information