Mr. Ed Sibley:

What we can see is that there are well over 20,000 accounts that are more than two years past due. A significant proportion of these are going through the legal process now. I am unsure how that plays through. Certainly, at the moment we can see from what is coming through the courts system that not all cases go through the courts system. Fewer than half end up in a court order. Some are withdrawn or restructured or paid on the steps of the court. One can see that if a borrower is in deep arrears to that extent, the potential for loss of ownership exists. As I have said several times today and during other committee appearances, the most important thing is to try to engage with the supports in place. It is important to engage with the lender and use the advice and practical solutions from the personal insolvency service to try to keep it to a minimum. This is a harsh thing to say but at the end of the day, if we want a secure lending system - which I think is what we want on the basis of some of the other discussions we have had in these Houses - then that security has to mean something.