Chamber and committees

It has gone up. Wow! How was Freiburg’s co-ordinated urban development and transport policy initially developed? How did you ensure that the required shift away from private transport and towards eco mobility was supported and accepted by all your citizens?

Yes.

Absolutely. Thank you for that. I agree: when I have been to various countries in Europe, the relationship with bikes there has always amazed me. Having facilities at work so that people can have showers and so on is such a different way of thinking. It is definitely the way forward.

You touched on what I was going to move on to in my next question—the integrated regional ticketing system. Were difficulties experienced in getting that up and running? How successful were you in getting all the transportation companies to accept a system in which just one ticket can be used across all modes of public transport? Are the transport operators publicly owned or are they private? Will you expand a little on that, please?

I thank the witnesses for their attendance this morning. As has been said, many people have seen their awards increase as a result of the transfer to ADP, but we are obviously concerned about those who have lost out or will lose out. Can you expand on the different options that have been presented for transitional protection and on what the challenges might be in providing for such schemes?

Obviously, mental health issues can be exacerbated by debt, but they can also be brought on by debt. It is a really tricky system and it seems to be exacerbating mental health issues more and more. Figuring out how to tackle that is the issue.

My last question on this theme is whether more retrospective protection should be given to individuals who were provided a loan when the company should reasonably have known, or did not make the effort to confirm, that there was no realistic chance that the individual would be in a position to repay the loan. Some private lenders that have cropped up recently are providing loans and doing very few background checks to make sure that the person’s income is enough to cover it. Should there be more retrospective protection?

I want to follow up on some issues that were raised by my colleague Miles Briggs. First, you have said that you will consult on changes to the law of diligence. What will be the likely timescale of that consultation, and what issues it is likely to cover?

Following on from the last question, I know that you said that there is a lack of evidence on arrestments, but I would like to know more about earnings arrestments. Will an evidence-gathering session go hand in hand with that consultation, to make sure that we find the best outcomes?

Thank you. I have no more questions, convener.

Good morning. How should statutory debt processes in Scotland be designed to improve outcomes specifically for people on low incomes? The Child Poverty Action Group has stated that debt processes should support the Scottish Government’s national mission on child poverty. How do we make that a reality and achieve the correct balance? For example, would it be an option to have different processes in place for those on low incomes or those on benefits?

My colleague Miles Briggs also rightly highlighted the proposal to increase the minimum protected balance, and we have also heard calls for earnings arrestments to be more flexible and better co-ordinated. For example, no effort is made to assess an individual’s circumstances prior to earnings arrestment or to find out whether, for example, they have children. Will further reforms of the earnings arrestment process feature as a core part of this consultation?

We know that earnings arrestments are closely related to council tax debt, and I understand the difficulties associated with creditors knowing everything about an individual’s circumstances. If local authorities were to continue to outsource to debt collection agencies—and given that authorities know more about an individual’s details—would it make sense to put more of an onus on them to provide those details to a debt collection agency so that these arrangements could be worked out? Given your earlier comment that things work better when there is co-operation between councils and the debt collection agency, would it be better to put more of an onus on the local authority?