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Service Personnel

Volume 454: debated on Wednesday 6 December 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with the Treasury to ensure that service personnel and their families who are unable to provide proof of stable addresses have access to credit. (106712)

Officials are working with the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS), the credit reference agencies, the Electoral Commission, the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Home Office on the interlinked issues of credit checking, identity verification, card not present credit card transactions and voter registration. Confirming current address in order to access credit is one aspect of this work. Guidance has already been issued to the service community through an information sheet available from the services, Families Federations, HIVE information offices and key websites including the service community area of the MOD website. This will be reviewed once the further work is completed.