Chamber and committees

Do members have any other questions for the minister or his team?

Minister—I thank you and your colleagues for appearing today. I have one request. We will produce our stage 1 report and the Scottish Government will reply to it. You have touched a couple of times on the existing legal protections. Following today’s discussion, it would be useful if the reply to the stage 1 report could highlight where you feel the legal protections exist and where there might be gaps where protections do not exist.

Is the committee content with the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

Under item 4, we are considering two instruments. An issue has been raised on the following instrument.

Welcome to the 27th meeting in 2022 of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. I ask everyone present to switch their mobile phones to silent.

Agenda item 1 is a decision on whether to take items 5, 6 and 7 in private. Is the committee content to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you, minister. I will open with some initial questions.

Can you provide any up-to-date figures on the likely impact of the bill on businesses in Scotland?

Thank you. What evidence has the Scottish Government received from lenders that they are planning to offer a broader or cheaper range of products to businesses in Scotland?

Another aspect is the waiver of defence clauses, which would appear to work against the interests of debtors in an assignation. Why has the Scottish Government chosen to formulate the proposed law in that way? Why have protections for individual debtors not been included, as they have elsewhere in the bill?

That would be helpful, thank you. Clearly, there is still some time before stages 2 and 3. Evidence that we have received has suggested that, whether or not the aspect is addressed in the bill, a section 104 order could be made as the bill passes so that there is a full suite of measures to complement the bill rather than a gap.

Thank you.

Under item 3, we are considering two instruments, on which no points have been raised.