Mr Burns: The credit crunch is affecting people in all walks of life in many different ways. Inflation is rising at an alarming rate and the price of oil is going through the roof. Whether it is the petrol or the diesel that we use to travel to work or the heating oil that we use in our homes, oil is becoming hugely expensive. This expenditure leaves less money available for people to pay for other things — in particular, their mortgages. One of the most important things that people have is their homes, and no one would ever want to see people being put out of homes that have been repossessed.

The Minister should be congratulated for showing leadership on the issue through the creation of a taskforce to examine the not-for-profit mortgage-rescue scheme. Furthermore, I know that she plans to meet the Council of Mortgage Lenders later this week to address this problem in our housing sector. With repossessions at a record level, I look forward to hearing about the progress that the Minister has made on the not-for-profit mortgage scheme that she announced earlier in the year.

The scheme is needed and welcomed. However, it should not be designed to encourage overspend in the housing sector, but instead should be used to help people facing repossession. I cannot emphasise enough how bad it must be for those who are in arrears with their mortgage when the dreaded letter arrives telling them that their home is to be repossessed. Many people get into mortgage arrears through illness or through a change in circumstances from when they first took out their mortgage.

I am very concerned by the rising number of privately run mortgage-rescue schemes. Those companies target those with money problems and seek to make profit from a bad situation. They buy property at much less than the market value and offer short-term rental agreements. That is immoral. A not-for-profit scheme should help to reduce the number of such private companies. Similar schemes operate in Britain, such as the mortgage-to-rent scheme and the flexible-tenure scheme.

Any Government scheme should provide debt counselling, fast-track people who face having their homes repossessed, pay the market value for homes and allow people to retain a share in their property — a staircase up and a staircase down. The scheme should also provide housing benefit to those who are eligible, so that they can rent back the property. Those who participate in the scheme should also be able to buy their homes back at a later date and be given long-term rental agreements.

I am confident that the Minister plans to introduce imaginative proposals, and I look forward to hearing what she has to say.