Chamber and committees

I thank Paul Sweeney for asking that question, because it raised an issue that I was thinking about. I want to ask about the security of information, not in terms of keeping it from people but in terms of how people will prove that they are the correct person to alter information that is held. I am concerned that somebody could mess around with and change somebody else’s information. How will you ensure that the process is handled correctly?

So that is being addressed. Thank you.

I thought that it was important to ask that question so that you could comment.

Thank you.

I thank our guests for the enlightening discussion so far.

I have a question about what I think is a positive aspect of the bill. How might the bill’s provisions on pledges help businesses to access finance?

That is extremely helpful.

My next question is about something that might not be quite so helpful, but I will ask it anyway. There are concerns that the statutory pledge provisions in the bill could in Scotland open up a high-cost lending market that could target vulnerable consumers. Do you have any idea of whether that is likely to happen?

I am sorry to come back in. I think that this might have been covered earlier, but there is a general agreement about the £1,000 threshold in the bill. Obviously, that has been in place for quite a while. I have heard a few people say certain numbers; for example, I believe that £3,000 was mentioned last week. It will be updated to some degree, but do you have an idea or a clue as to what the best direction that it could go in might be?

Everybody is pretty much of the opinion that it needs to be higher than the £1,000 threshold that has been broached. As Alan McIntosh mentioned, the more important element is possibly not so much where it starts—although it has to be higher than £1,000—but how it increases over time. That is really the important element. It is useful to have heard that.

I thank the witnesses very much for their evidence so far. You have answered quite a few things that I was going to ask, so I will go off on a bit of a tangent from where we have been so far. My question is more about businesses in communities. Do you think that the proposals in the bill, as presented, should apply equally to all businesses or should there be additional protections for small traders and small businesses?

That is fair enough. Thank you very much for that. Thank you to Mr McIntosh for the outline as well.