To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) a minimum dwell time and (b) prompts that require active demonstrations of consumer understanding on consumer credit application pages.

The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, transferring regulatory responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the FCA is an independent body. Therefore this is a matter for the FCA.

The FCA has tough enforcement powers – criminal, civil and regulatory – to protect consumers and to take action against firms and individuals that do not meet its standards. Since the transfer, the FCA has taken a proactive approach on consumer credit, to ensure that all consumers who use high-cost credit products are treated fairly.