Chamber and committees

Yes, if you are brief.

That is okay. I will bring in Mr Hardman and then go back to Bill Kidd. I am conscious of the time that we have this morning.

Before I bring in Mr Dailly, I will ask for clarification from Mr Patrick. In response to Oliver Mundell’s question, you mentioned the workaround. Would the bill put in place a consistent approach to transfer, compared with workarounds that might be different depending on particular transactions?

I have a supplementary question. Can you please provide some examples, Mr Dailly? You have said that consumers might be protected on some aspects but not all. When might a consumer be protected, and when might they not be?

Jeremy Balfour has a supplementary.

Dr Patrick, can you explain how the current law in Scotland affects businesses’ ability to access finance?

Good morning, and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2022 of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. I remind everyone present to switch their mobile phones to silent.

The first item of business is a decision on whether to take items 6 to 10 in private. Is the committee content to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Under item 2, we will continue to take evidence on the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill. We will hear from two panels. I welcome the witnesses on the first panel: Mike Dailly, solicitor advocate and principal solicitor at the Govan Law Centre; Dr Jonathan Hardman, convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s banking, company and insolvency law sub-committee; and Dr Hamish Patrick, partner and head of financial sector at Shepherd and Wedderburn.

I remind all attendees that they should not worry about turning on their microphones, because those are controlled by broadcasting colleagues. If you would like to come in on any question, please indicate to me by raising your hand—that would be helpful.

I will ask a couple of general questions before I bring in colleagues. Notwithstanding the issues that you have raised in your submissions, which we will come on to in some detail, are you content with the general thrust of the bill?

Gents, before we close, would you like to make any final comments?

Your organisations have argued that the statutory pledge provisions could open up a high-cost credit market in Scotland that will target vulnerable consumers—Myles Fitt just touched on that. How likely is that to happen, and what could be the potential impact on the people who then become your clients?