I have been following the proposed new changes to the Bankruptcy and Debt Advice (Scotland) Bill which was introduced to Parliament on the 11 June 2013.

Following the introduction of this The Economy, Energy & Tourism Committee issued a ÔÇ£call for evidenceÔÇØ on the 24 June 2013 which closed on the 24 August 2013. This allowed any interest party to submit written evidence on their viewpoints and opinions in relation to the new bill. On the Scottish Parliament website under the Committees section you can find more information on each organisations viewpoints on the bill. It's an interesting read to see the difference of opinions. 32 submissions were received.

In addition to the written evidence, oral evidence was due to be heard over a number of dates between October and November. The oral evidence was to be given by a range of organisations from the Insolvency Practitioners Association, Association of British Credit Unions Ltd, Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3) Scottish Technical Committee, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland. In addition to these organisations, Citizens Advice Scotland, Money Advice Scotland, Law Society of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Consumer Finance Association, Dollar Financial and StepChange Debt Charity were also in attendance to give oral evidence.

In addition to the organisations above, Donald McKinnon, my boss and one of the Insolvency Practitioners for Wylie Bisset was invited to attend by the committee to provide his opinion and answer the questions of the committee. A video of the session on the 9th of October can also be found on the Scottish parliament website. For anyone wanting to see what an Insolvency Practitioner looks like, check out the video and you might catch a glimpse. You can also see the Insolvency Practitioners Alison Anderson from Armstrong Watson answering questions along with Eileen Blackburn from French Duncan who were also invited to attend.

Having watched the video and review a lot of the different viewpoints of organisations, some of the changes most organisations agree on and some of the changes both the private advice section and free money advice section don't agree on. It also demonstrates that a range of view points and opinions are being taken into consideration with regards to the new proposed bill and the committee are asking questions which have been brought up by organisations.

It's quite a technical post but for people who are following this and I think there could be a couple of people on the forum with an interest, you may find the information on the Scottish Parliament website useful and interesting.