Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-24679

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that equality impact assessments should be applied to singe outcome agreements.

It is not the Scottish Government''s role to determine on whether an authority has appropriately complied with its public sector equality duties. However, as the Scottish Government is engaged with community planning partnerships (CPPs) in the development of single outcome agreements (SOAs), it recognises its responsibility to work with partners to ensure that equality is properly considered and reflected.

To support this, in March 2009 the Scottish Government and COSLA issued advice on Equality and Single Outcome Agreements “ Getting to Best Practice. This advice is intended to help community planning partners to consider how they may move beyond fulfilling their individual equalities obligations and toward jointly incorporating and reflecting equality in the ongoing development of SOAs.

Question reference: S3W-24732

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it will cost the Accountant in Bankruptcy to administer the Debt Arrangement Scheme.

The estimated cost of developing the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) case management system to meet the immediate demands of changes to regulations is £32,000.

This figure also provides for an assessment on the future suitability of the DAS IT system which, in technology terms, is aging. This work would be required irrespective of any changes to DAS.

Based on 3,000 DAS applications per annum, the estimated costs to operate the DAS scheme will be around £500,000 per annum. That figure is based on total cost and includes all support costs, a proportion of accommodation, management, governance and control etc.

Question reference: S3W-24728

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people it anticipated would apply for bankruptcy through low income, low assets (LILA).

Question reference: S3W-24729

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average debts are for people who have applied for bankruptcy through low income, low assets (LILA).

A review of the low income, low asset (LILA) route into bankruptcy, published in October 2008, is available on the Accountant in Bankruptcy website at www.aib.gov.uk.

Based on a sample of 2,011 debtors who became bankrupt between 1 April 2008 and 31 July 2008, the report found that the average LILA debtor has around £17,288 of debt and the majority of debtors owe between £5,000 and £19,999.

A further review of the LILA route into bankruptcy is currently underway and is due to report findings by August 2009.

Question reference: S3W-24727

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have applied for bankruptcy through low income, low assets (LILA).

The Accountant in Bankruptcy maintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland and publishes statistics on personal insolvencies in Scotland, quarterly on their website at www.aib.gov.uk and by financial year in their annual report, which is also available on their website.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy considers debtor applications and assesses eligibility for bankruptcy. Debtor applications for bankruptcy are all considered via the same application process and applications are not specifically considered as low income, low assets applications.

Question reference: S3W-24735

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive who the members of the Debt Action Forum are.

The Debt Action Forum (DAF) was a group of stakeholders and academics invited by Scottish ministers to consider measures that might create a coherent debt package to respond to the current financial climate. Minutes of the DAF meetings are available on the Accountant in Bankruptcy website at www.aib.gov.uk.

The members are:

Fergus Ewing, MSP	Minister for Community Safety (Chair)
Gillian Thompson	Accountant in Bankruptcy
George Way	Law Society of Scotland
Ann Condick	The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
Susan McPhee	Citizens Advice Scotland
Yvonne Gallacher	Money Advice Scotland
Lindsay Montgomery	Scottish Legal Aid Board
Anne Feeney	Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities
Adrian Stalker	QC
George Gretton	The Scottish Law Commission
Frank Johnstone	Finance and Leasing Association
Karen Titulaer	British Bankers Association / Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers

Question reference: S3W-24730

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will remove the £100 fee required for access to bankruptcy through low income, low assets (LILA).

A review of the low income, low asset (LILA) route into bankruptcy published in October 2008 concluded that the application fee was reasonable and minimised the administration cost to the public purse. The report is available on the Accountant in Bankruptcy website at www.aib.gov.uk. The report also gave a commitment to consider the fee once evidence had been provided by the advice sector.

A further review of the LILA route into bankruptcy is currently underway and is due to report findings by August 2009. A decision on the application fee will be made based on the findings and any evidence provided by stakeholders.

Question reference: S3W-24725

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are employed by the Accountant in Bankruptcy and how this compares with the staffing in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S3W-24731

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it costs the Accountant in Bankruptcy to administer the low income, low assets (LILA) scheme.

The low income, low asset (LILA) route into bankruptcy came into force on 1 April 2008, the same date from which debtor applications for bankruptcy were made directly to the Accountant in Bankruptcy rather than to the courts as previously.

LILA is an additional route into the bankruptcy process, not a separate scheme in itself, and the Accountant in Bankruptcy does not split the administration costs of the debtor application process.

The total administrative costs of the team dealing with debtor applications are estimated at £928,700 per annum.

This figure does not include fees payable to third parties associated with debtor applications which are beyond the Accountant in Bankruptcy''s direct control; principally the costs of advertising the award in the Edinburgh Gazette and registering the award with the Registers of Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-24715

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have (a) applied for and (b) received support to purchase a home in (i) Dunbartonshire and (ii) Argyll and Bute under the Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers and what the value of that support is.

The Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) established in October 2007 brings together a range of Scottish Government initiatives to help households get onto the housing ladder.

This includes the New Supply Shared Equity scheme and Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme; shared ownership; Rural Home Ownership Grants (RHOGs); and GRO grants for owner occupation (grants to private developers to build low cost housing for sale).

In response to (a), the only centrally held information on applications under LIFT relates to the Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme. Since the temporary expansion of the pilot scheme on 31 March 2009 the following people have applied from Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire:

Grant Type	Local Authority	Number of Applications Received at 31.5.09	Number of Completed Applications Returned at 31.5.09	Number of Purchases at 31.5.09
Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme	Argyll and Bute	20	8	-
Open Market Shared Equity Pilot scheme	West Dunbartonshire	38	8	-

In response to (b), with regard to New Supply Shared Equity and Rural Home Ownership Grants, please see below the number of people in Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire who have received support to purchase a home and the value of that support.

Grant Type	Local Authority	Number of Households Supported	Value of Support
New Supply Shared Equity scheme	Argyll and Bute	67	£3,146,806
New Supply Shared Equity scheme	West Dunbartonshire	35	£1,585,809
Rural Home Ownership Grant	Argyll and Bute	15	£760,137
Rural Home Ownership Grant	West Dunbartonshire	n/a	n/a

We do not centrally hold information on shared ownership or GRO sales. However we can report that in West Dunbartonshire 25 shared ownership and 50 GRO grant properties have been completed and made available for purchase initially marketed at first-time buyers.