A Financial Health Service for Scotland - The AiB's SNP brave new world
We read in today's Herald (which is not where we usually first turn for government policy statements) that the Accountant in Bankruptcy needs to - and we quote - "make the most of the opportunity we (sic) have got with the [majority] parliament." It looks like Rosemary Winter-Scott, the AiB, has nailed her colours to the mast there. We had thought she was a civil servant, but the AiB setting policy as well as implementing policy has blurred the boundaries of her role.
At the time of writing, there is no press release or consultation document we can find on the AiB's website. Perhaps something will appear shortly - the Herald says plans are to be launched this week. We can hardly wait. For now, all we have to go in is Simon Bain's story in the newspaper.
"We need to balance [being debtor friendly] with a recognition of the importance of creditors", says Ms Winter-Scott. Perhaps she has been dismissive of the rights of creditors in the past; we are not sure it has been an issue for Insolvency Practitioners who speak to creditors every day.
There is a suggestion that we need to increase the charge you have to pay for each bankruptcy (from £100 to the English charge of £700, perhaps). We had thought we were in the business of removing barriers to debt solutions, rather than increasing them - but (forgive our cyncism) that won't drive people towards the AiB's favoured Debt Arrangement Scheme.
The help of Insolvency Practitioners is apparently to be sought by the AiB - to help stamp out bad practice from debt management companies. We are not sure how she sees that working, and there is hardly a major history of trust between the two.
".. a lot of other countries separate out business, as in sole partnerships, from consumer bankruptcy, but we lump it all together as consumer" continues the AiB. We have no idea, by the way, what a sole partnership is. It is true that the same legislation covers consumer debt and business debt, but we are not quite sure why thay system developed over 200 years is suddenly unfit for purpose.
And Ms Winter-Scott continues "We don't have a debt relief option for small businesses before they become bankrupt." Not correct, but (assuming she is talking about unincorporated businesses) she sees fit to ignore trust deeds and informal arrangements. So what is on her agenda here? With a 40% budget cut for her department this year, whatever it is will involve shoring up the Kilwinning empire.
Meanwhile there is also talk of "compulsory education" [about bankruptcy] and this presumably must be part of numeracy within the curriculum for excellence. We thought there was enough jargon and woolly thinking there without foisting DASs and DMPs and PTDs on what the rector of Dundee High School already calls a "disconcerting new world."