Debt Recovery (Bank Arrestment)

Question Time — Scottish Executive – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:30 pm on 11 December 2003.

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Photo of Eleanor Scott Eleanor Scott Green 2:30, 11 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the reform of bank arrestment as a means of recovering debt. (S2O-933)

Photo of Jim Wallace Jim Wallace Liberal Democrat

We will bring forward proposals for reform of the law of diligence, including proposals for the arrestment of funds in bank and other accounts, in draft legislation that is to be consulted on in this parliamentary year.

Photo of Eleanor Scott Eleanor Scott Green

We are very close to Christmas and the minister must be aware of local authorities' practice of increasing their use of bank arrestments in the week before Christmas, in the knowledge that many people will have been paid Christmas bonuses or will have received their January pay early. According to citizens advice bureaux, that practice occurs every year, and bureaux throughout Scotland experience a rise in the number of people who need advice because their bank account has been frozen, which leaves families distraught and penniless immediately before Christmas. Given the severe impact that the practice has on people, and its frequently untimely use, does the minister agree that reform is needed urgently? Will he assure us that such reform will proceed without delay and will be fully consulted on?

Photo of Jim Wallace Jim Wallace Liberal Democrat

I do not concede that the picture that Eleanor Scott has painted is accurate. However, we consulted on the arrestment of funds in the bank accounts of vulnerable people and the potential that exists for the arrestment of earnings when we held our consultation on a range of issues relating to personal diligence. We intend to introduce legislation and, as my colleague Hugh Henry, the Deputy Minister for Justice, confirmed earlier this year, we want to reform diligence law to produce a solution that protects from arrestment subsistence levels of money. That is our objective. The consultation in which we engaged produced a variety of opinions on how that might be done. We are engaged in further consultation with stakeholders and we hope that we will be able to unveil positive proposals on dealing with the problem when we publish our draft legislation.