Warrant Sales (Hansard, 26 February 1986)

§ 41. Mr. Canavan
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland when he last met the Scottish Law Commission to discuss the law on warrant sales.

§ 46. Mr. McKelvey
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland when he next plans to meet the chairman of the Scottish Law Commission to discuss proposals for changes in the law on warrant sales; and if he will make a statement.

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland (Mr. Peter Fraser)
I meet the chairman and members of the Scottish Law Commission both formally and informally from time to time. The Government are seeking public comments on the commission's report on diligence and debtor protection, including its proposals for reform of the warrant sale procedure. Once the period of consultation is over, I anticipate meeting the Scottish Law Commission again before final policy decisions on implementation of the proposals are taken.

§ Mr. Canavan
Does the hon. and learned Gentleman recall that when he was an up-and-coming young Back-Bench Member of Parliament, before he was sucked into the Westminster Establishment by patronage and appointments to being the Solicitor-General for Scotland and a Queen's counsel and all that, he and his ministerial mate, the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. MacKay) were very sympathetic to a private Member's Bill which I introduced to abolish warrant sale and to replace it with a system of debt arbitration? Now that the hon. and learned Gentleman is Solicitor-General for Scotland, with all of the power that that entails, does he not have a responsibility to do something about warrant sales and to tell the Scottish Law Commission that it has been dithering about this matter for 13 or 14 years? Is it not high time that the Government took the initiative and introduced legislation to abolish this barbaric practice?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
The Law Commission's report has been published. We wished to have consultation over a short period, and the period of consultation that we suggested should end in the middle of March. Several views have been expressed in Scotland about the proposals of the Law Commission, which were favourable in the main. If the hon. Gentleman, who I know is concerned about the matter, or any organisation with which he is connected, wishes to express an opinion about the proposals, I would be grateful if they would do so at the earliest possible moment, and certainly before the middle of next month. I remain of the view that I expressed some time ago. We wish to make warrant sale procedures more humane and sensible, but we do not wish to leave ourselves in the position where those who find credit most difficult to obtain cannot do so because of the changes.

§ Mr. McKelvey
Does the Solicitor-General share my abhorrence of those who pursue that squalid type of action, which seldom realises the initial debt, but seeks to humiliate people and at the end of the day deprives poor people of the few bits and sticks of furniture that they might have and takes away their essential household contents? In the light of the investigations, it would be better to end warrant sales.

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
The report to which I have already referred deals carefully with that problem. If the hon. Gentleman cares to consider the details of the report, he will see that it addresses his complaints. I urge him to do so. If he believes that changes should be made to the proposals, I extend the invitation to him and to any organisation to let me know as soon as possible. I would be grateful for such action. I recognise that there is a need for change.

§ Mr. Hirst
Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that warrant sales are anachronistic, an undignified experience for anybody and should have no place in civilised society?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
My hon. Friend will recollect that in our manifesto at the general election we expressed a clear commitment to bring to an end what we believed to be inhumane procedures which currently apply. If it is difficult to do away with all the processes so that nothing can be done about getting payment for the debt due, at least we wish to ensure at the earliest possible date a distinction between those who can pay and those who will not pay.

§ Mr. Wallace
Will the Solicitor-General give a guarantee that those undignified and anachronistic procedures will be swept away before there is any possibility of those defaulting on the community charge becoming subjected to them?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
The hon. Gentleman's own party is among the organisations and parties that have failed to comment on the warrant sales. As a member of the Faculty of Advocates, I am sure that he has taken the opportunity of reading that valuable, albeit long, report. I look forward to an immediate expression of his view on what is right and what is wrong.