Chamber and committees

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.

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

 

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.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy publishes details of staff numbers and costs annually in their annual report which is available on their website at www.aib.gov.uk.

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.

There are various approaches which could be adopted to ensure that no NHSScotland staff member received less than £7 per hour.

Depending on which approach was chosen, it is estimated that it would cost between £3.1 and £7.3 million to introduce a £7 per hour minimum wage in NHSScotland in the 2009-10 financial year. There may also be further additional costs of up to £3.4 million in 2010-11.

The lowest hourly rate currently available in NHSScotland is £6.76 which is significantly above the current minimum wage of £5.73 per hour. From modelling data available centrally it is estimated that some 5,000 staff are on this rate.

It is unlikely that any pay point will be below £7 per hour from 1 April 2011.

Only points one and two on the 56 point Agenda for Change salary scale are below £7 per hour and are currently £6.76 and £6.94 respectively. Both of these rates are already substantially more than the minimum wage of £5.73 per hour. It should also be noted that all Agenda for Change staff receive incremental progression as well as cost of living increases. These are, therefore, the bottom points on scales which staff move up as their experience increases. From modelling data available centrally, it is estimated that some 8,000 staff in NHSScotland are currently on these two pay points.

It is not possible from the information held centrally to break this number down according to NHS board.

NHS Health Scotland recently distributed 36,000 copies of Facing Dementia (Bib. number 47926) and also widely publicised its availability. This included, amongst others, copies to GP practices, Old Age psychiatrists and psychologists and lead contacts in each NHS board area.

NHS Health Scotland is considering an evaluation of its dissemination strategy with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland to establish whether the publication has reached the target audience of people with dementia and those who care for them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24353 on 10 June 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.