Chamber and committees

The committee has heard compelling evidence of the impact that earnings arrestment has on people—a survey was done by one of our witnesses. You mentioned COSLA; it does affect council tax debt and the families concerned are on pretty low incomes. To put a bit of ease into that system would be helpful—probably more helpful than what the mental health moratorium could provide at this point in time.

Douglas Lumsden, did you want to come in?

That is an interesting line of questioning from Colin Smyth. I hope that the minister will reflect on the fact that the criteria that have been suggested for Scotland are very narrow, while those for England and Wales are a bit broader. They are not much broader, but they include people who are receiving crisis treatment, not just compulsory treatment.

I had a meeting with One Parent Families Scotland and the Poverty Alliance, and the people I met there would not be able to access the scheme, even though they feel that they are under significant mental health pressure because they are in debt. The scheme would not apply to them because of the narrowness of the criteria that it uses.

We could look at the council tax legislation. You said that you wanted the moratorium to be consistent with other legislation. My understanding is that the council tax legislation uses the term “severely mentally impaired”, which sets quite a high threshold, but not as high as that which the Government has suggested. I hope that the minister will reflect on the fact that the proposal uses a very narrow definition for access to the scheme.

Does such a public register exist for anybody else who has experienced debt problems, or would it just be for people who have accessed a mental health moratorium? At the moment, when people have unmanageable debts, how would a creditor know that the person is in that situation?

Thank you. I will now briefly suspend the meeting.

Ms Chapman, I want to make some progress. I will bring you back in at the end if there is time.

Thank you.

Murdo Fraser has an interest to declare in relation to this morning’s meeting.

We have received some evidence on the Scottish procurement policy note from 2014 that strongly discourages trade with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which, I understand, is still a relevant policy. The minister presents a case in which the Scottish Government argues that it does not deviate from UK foreign policy. Are you confident that that position is consistent? I raise those points on behalf of the committee in respect of representations and evidence that we have received.

The committee is going to do some post-legislative scrutiny of that act, so we may consider that area in more detail.

What engagement has the Scottish Government had with the UK Government and other devolved Administrations that have also been considering the LCM?

What do you think the understanding is? I think that people know that a transition has to take place, but what does the “just” part of that mean? Small businesses might think that they need to change their energy source or take other practical measures, but is there an understanding of what it means for the transition to be just?