Chamber and committees

TAVI has been available to Scottish patients since 2008 on a case-by-case basis, with patients who are considered suitable being referred by their local health board to an appropriate provider outwith Scotland. It was announced on 11 September 2012 that a Scottish TAVI centre would be set up at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The first patients were assessed by the Edinburgh team this week and I understand that the first TAVI procedures are planned to be undertaken in October.

Prior to the re-launch of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) on 1 July 2011, the administration costs of Debt Payment Programmes (DPP) under DAS were funded by the public purse. A breakdown of the running costs since the re-launch of DAS in 2011 are detailed in the following table. An application fee of 2% from every payment made to a DPP under DAS, paid to the Accountant in Bankruptcy, covers the annual costs over a five year period with full cost recovery expected in 2016.

Breakdown of DAS Running Costs

Statistics relating to payments received via a Debt Payment Programme (DPP) under Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) are not available for local authority areas.

Information on the amount of debt outstanding annually in DPPs is available in the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s Annual Report which is available on the AiB website.

However information on the amount of debt recovered by payments distributers and paid to creditors, through DPPs, was not available until changes were made to the DAS system on 1 July 2011. As of 18 September 2012, the total debt included in all live DPPs, which includes those DPPs which were approved prior to 1 July 2011, was £170 million. There has been almost £15 million paid to creditors since 1 July to date.

The Scottish Government does not directly fund money advisers, however, we do provide funding of £167,000 per year which is used to fund second tier training in this sector.

Funding for Citizens Advice Scotland’s money advisers is provided by the UK Government, funding for local authority money advisers is provided by local authorities from their budgets. We do not hold information regarding the amount of funding that is provided by local authorities.

In 2010-11 there were a total of 90 Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) approved money advisers. The following table provides details of the number of approved advisers by local authority regions.

Changes made to DAS on 1 July 2011 allowed organisations as well as individuals to be approved under DAS. As there can now be a number of money advisers available to assist clients in these organisations, these changes have increased the total number of DAS approved advisers available throughout Scotland. The following table provides a list of approved money advisers and organisations as of 18 September 2012.

Distribution of DAS Approved Money Advice Organisations by Local Authority

Anyone seeking the assistance or services of a DAS approved money adviser can visit the DAS website at: http://www.dasscotland.gov.uk/help-centre/money-adviser-search and enter their postcode on the system to get contact details of DAS approved money advisers within a 10 mile radius of their address.

The following represents the budget allocated to and drawn down by the Accountant in Bankruptcy by the Scottish Government for the financial years 2009 to 2012.

Prior to the re-launch of the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) on 1 July 2011, the administration costs of DAS were funded by the public purse. Since the re-launch of DAS, the costs of administration are recovered by the Accountant in Bankruptcy via an administration fee of 2% charged on all payments made via Debt Payment Programmes (DPP). Fees charged by payments distributers may be up to 8% of the payment made by the individual. On completion of a DPP under DAS, the creditor will receive at least 90% of the debt owed to them at the commencement of the DPP. Administration of DPPs under DAS are now cost neutral to the public purse.

Administration fees recovered are not broken down by individual local authority areas.

The Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) was introduced on 30 November 2004. Up until changes were introduced on 1 July 2011, the administration costs were funded from the budget allocated to the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB).

Since 2006, AiB have been working towards full cost recovery for the services provided by them including DAS.

In 2011, there was a £250,000 investment by AiB which led to the re-launch of DAS on 1 July. At that time an application fee was introduced. This fee was set at 2% from every payment made to a Debt Payment Programme (DPP) under DAS. This fee is paid to the AiB and covers the annual running costs and the initial investment over a five year period. Full cost recovery is expected in 2016.

The funding that AiB receives each year from the Scottish Government from inception of DAS in 2004 until 2011 is detailed below. This funding was used to facilitate all of the services provided by AiB and does not detail the funds used for each of the services provided.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy produces annual reports which provide statistical information regarding the Debt Arrangement Scheme, Protected Trust Deeds and Bankruptcy. Their reports can be found at:

http://www.aib.gov.uk/guidance/publications/corporate/annualreports.

Statistics contained in these reports are not broken down into local authority areas.

The latest published report 2010-11, informs that the total value of debts included in Debt Payment Programmes (DPP) under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) in the financial year 2010-11 was £43,085,316. There were 1,910 individuals who entered a DPP under DAS that year therefore the average debt included in a single DPP under DAS during this period was £22,557.76. It is expected that the 2011-12 annual report will be published in October 2012.