FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL ILLEGAL MONEY LENDING TEAM ENGLAND

That this House notes with concern that the Government is proposing to cut the budget of the national Illegal Money Lending Team by a third, which will result in a number of redundancies and a significantly reduced capacity; further notes that since the launch of this team in 2004, it has done very valuable work in combating illegal loan sharks who prey on the vulnerable and poverty-stricken, and who often use violence or threats to extort money from people in desperate situations; applauds the team's achievements in having brought more than 200 loan sharks to justice across the UK and helped nearly 24,000 victims of loan sharks; notes that the Government has suggested that it may bring in a levy on the industry to plug this funding gap; supports this proposal and urges the Government to institute such a levy as soon as possible to ensure that the team's full funding is maintained; suggests that the Government target unscrupulous payday lenders to fund this levy; further suggests that the Government also provide more support to alternative sources of credit which benefits communities, such as credit unions; urges the Government not to cut the team's funding; and believes that any cuts will be damaging to communities, as well as counter-productive in fiscal terms due to the costs of increases in criminality to the police, judiciary and prison services.