To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has of the present amount of indebtedness to the United Kingdom banking sector which is regarded as bad or doubtful; and what information he has of the proportions of bad or doubtful indebtedness which exist in respect of (a) United Kingdom based small firms, (b) United Kingdom based large companies, (c) investment in the USA and (d) investment in Latin America, Asia or Africa.

The Bank of England publishes information about the provisions made against bad debt by the large United Kingdom banks in its annual report under the Banking Act. The latest published figures are in the bank's report for 1990–91. Separate figures are given for provisions against domestic bad debt, commercial bad debt and problem country debt. However, the breakdown requested is not available.