To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what reviews or research he is undertaking into the extent of debt amongst the two lowest income deciles of households.

The Department is co-sponsoring a major survey by the Policy Studies Institute of "Credit and Debt in Britain". The survey covers the use of credit and problems of debt among the population as a whole, but low-income families were over represented to ensure that sample sizes were large enough to produce robust information. Preliminary results from the survey, which took place in 1989, were published in March 1990. The final report is due to be published later this year.