Debt and Insolvency Services Stakeholder Forum
MINUTES OF MEETING
Tuesday 08 October 2013, 13:00 – 15:00
Victoria Quay, Edinburgh (Conference Rooms 7 & 8)
Present:
Rosemary Winter-Scott (Chair)
Claire Orr
John Cook
Pauline Allan
Andrew Douglas
Maureen Leslie
Alexander MacDermott
Frank McKillop
Yvonne MacDermid
Angus McIntosh
David Menzies
Anne Muir
Mike Norris
Colin Soulsby
Melanie Taylor
Jason Wassell
Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)
Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)
Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)
Citizens Advice Scotland
HM Revenue & Customs
MLM Consulting representing IPA
Credit Service Association
Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL)
Money Advice Scotland (MAS)
Scottish Association of Law Centres
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
Institute of Revenues Rating & Valuations (IRRV)
Max Recovery
Royal Bank of Scotland
Think Money Group
Consumer Finance Association (CFA)
In Attendance:
Lorna Clark (Acting Secretary)
Daniel Harrison (observer)
Marion Hughes (observer)
Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)
Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)
Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)
Item 1
Welcome, introduction, apologies and acceptance of previous minutes
and matters arising from previous minutes.
1.
The Chair welcomed all members and observers to the meeting and invited round
table introductions. Apologies were received from John Hall, Kevin Mackay, Euan
MacPherson and Martin Prigent. Antoinette Eaton was unable to attend the meeting due to
an audio connection issue.
2.
The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as a true record.
3.
The following updates were provided on the outstanding action points.
APs 1 - 3:
Complete.
AP 4:
It was agreed that this was an issue for the credit reference agencies, there
was a discussion about how these instances should be flagged up to them.
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AP 5:
On-going.
AP 6:
Complete.
AP 7:
No recent reports have been received.
Item 2
Legislation update
4.
The legislation update focussed on areas other than the bankruptcy reform Bill and
changes to PTDs, as these had previously been discussed at length.
5.
The working party looking at corporate insolvency rules had made a number of
recommendations and were close to producing a set of rules to introduce to the Scottish
Parliament. Further changes may be proposed depending on the work carried out by the
UKIS on the UK rules.
6.
An update on the proposals for introducing a business DAS was provided. The
intention was to introduce an early stage intervention mechanism for small partnerships to
prevent insolvency of the business. It was reported that separation of personal and business
debt was complex and not practical to achieve. The proposal was to enable partnerships to
apply for a DPP, with a fixed period of 5 years to reply the debt. It was confirmed that the
DPP cannot be for a single debt.
7.
There was a discussion about the viability test and it was highlighted that how this
would be paid for would impact on IPs. It was confirmed that fee charging was on the list of
issues to consider in more detail.
8.
It was reported that the Common Financial Tool working group had been working on
the most appropriate common tool for Scotland. After careful consideration it had been
agreed that the Common Financial Statement (CFS) was the best solution for Scotland,
based on the evidence and taking sustainability into account as the key factor.
Item 3
DISSF Brief Paper: DISSF(13-14)02
9.
The latest quarterly statistics were discussed. The Q2 figures had yet to be finalised,
however it was reported that the trends for Q1 had broadly continued during Q2. PTD figures
had reduced in comparison to the same period in the previous reporting year and it
anticipated that this decrease would continue.
10.
There was an observation that the format of the statistics provided some difficulty in
identifying trends and further narrative providing a policy perspective on the meaning behind
the statistics would be helpful. The agency statistician was in attendance to seek views on
the quarterly statistical publication and feedback would be requested under AoB.
11.
It was confirmed that the Q1 and Q2 DAS figures were slightly lower than the same
period last year, when the DAS marketing campaign had been running. A new DAS
marketing campaign had ran again recently to promote DAS. It was highlighted that the DAS
adverts referred to CABs only and hadn’t referred to the help available from local authorities.
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AiB directed people to CABS in the campaigns as it was felt they were well understood by the
public. There are no plans to direct people to local authorities through the campaign as such,
although this route is always open.
Item 4
Summary of IAIR conference
11.
The IAIR conference was held in Edinburgh, with the Accountant in Bankruptcy as
Chair and host of the event. The conference was well attended with 54 delegates from 23
countries from around the world. An overview of the schedule of events and the issues
discussed was provided.
Item 5
Protected Trust Deeds
12.
Work had been on-going to develop a new IT system for PTDs. The web based
solution developed was an interactive hub that enabled third party users to input information
directly, similar to the DASH system, with the aim of reducing costs and making the process
more efficient. The first phase to be rolled out would focus on advertising of PTDs and the
next phase was to develop a fully interactive system. It was highlighted that creditor buy-in
was essential for the system to work effectively and on-going engagement was taking place
with major creditors. Good progress had been made so far.
13.
There was a query about whether the system would hold adequate documentation and
audit trail to satisfy the RPBs for regulatory purposes. It was confirmed that the hub would be
updated to satisfy audit requirements and the agency was happy to discuss the finer detail
with the RPBs.
14.
A review board would shortly be put in place to revise the trust deed guidance
document. A query was raised about required compliance with the guidance notes as these
were not legislatory. It was confirmed that the guidance was not intended to give directions
but to provide an interpretation of the Regulations on an operational basis.
Item 6
Stakeholder Events
15.
The Chair requested volunteers to act as panel members for the four upcoming annual
stakeholder events and a sufficient number of members volunteered to cover the panel chair
role for each event.
Item 7
Updates from IPA/ICAS
16.
An overview of the IPA and ICAS complaints processes was provided and there was
an update on the new process of routing complaints via the insolvency services gateway. A
summary of the number and nature of complaints received was provided.
17.
ICAS provided an update on the introduction of the new SIP16 and the revision of the
SIP3A.
18.
There was a debate about where responsibility lies for monitoring of DAS and it was
agreed that this issue would be discussed further.
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ACTION POINT: JC to discuss the monitoring system for DAS with Money Advisors
and RPBs.
Item 8
AiB Business Planning: DISSF(13-14)03
19.
The Board had refreshed the 2013-16 corporate plan to reframe the objectives and
focus on the approach to the development of a financial health service for Scotland. An
overview of the changes was provided and comments were invited. There was an
observation that there could be a stronger focus on maximising the return to creditors and it
was agreed to ensure there was sufficient reference to this activity within the plan.
ACTION POINT: RWS to liaise with Business Planning Manager to ensure the
Corporate Plan incorporated sufficient reference to returns to creditors.
20.
There was a query about the impact that a yes vote in the 2014 referendum would
have on the vision. It was confirmed that the vision would be expanded accordingly to
include a focus on corporate insolvency in the event of a yes vote.
21.
Some observations were raised by members on the content of the PESTLE analysis.
It was reported that the PESTLE was an early stage collection of thoughts and ideas to help
feed into the planning process and did not appear in the final plan. AiB continued to work on
the plan and members would be kept informed of its development.
Item 9
AOB
22.
A handout seeking feedback on the quarterly statistical publication was circulated and
members were invited to contact the statistician with views.
ACTION POINT: Secretary to circulate an electronic copy of the handout and members
to submit feedback to the statistician.
23.
There was a discussion about the format of the statistical information relating to PTD
performance published within the annual report. It was reported that the PTD performance
figures had been included due to FOI requests for this information that had placed it in the
public domain. It was agreed that it would be helpful to show the percentage of failed cases
to reflect the full context. Creditors who had concerns about trustee performance should
raise these with the relevant RPB. There was an opportunity to compare any changes in
performance statistics following the introduction of the new PTD Regulations.
24.
The Chair thanked all members for attending and closed the meeting. The next
meeting was scheduled take place on 6 February 2014 in Atlantic Quay, Glasgow.
Lorna Clark
Acting DISSF Secretary
October 2013
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