Griffiths Commission on Personal Debt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Griffiths Commission on Personal Debt was a British public inquiry launched in 2004 by Oliver Letwin, MP, the then Conservative Shadow Chancellor, to investigate the increasing problem of personal debt in the United Kingdom. Although initially formed by the Conservative Party, the Commission took evidence from individuals of all political persuasion, and sought to achieve consensus across the political spectrum.
The final report entitled What Price Credit? was published by the Centre for Social Justice in March 2005. Elements of the report were welcomed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, although there was no official response from the then ruling Labour Party.
The Commission members were as follows:
- Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach (chairman)
- Manish Chande
- Professor Iwan Davies
- Tom Jackson (Secretary)
- Rt Reverend James Jones
- Heather Keates
- Prue Leith OBE
- Keith Tondeur
Achievements
Although the Commission report did not directly lead to any change in policy, it has been quoted and referenced by a number of subsequent reports such as the House of Lords EU Select committee Thirteenth Report[1] when they were investigating EU Consumer Credit harmonisation.