§ Mr. GorrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to enable the courts, in cases of repossession of houses, to intervene in order to determine what is in the best interests of the family resident in the house, and if they can continue to live there under an acceptable financial arrangement. [58811]
§ Mr. McLeish[holding answer 17 November 1998]: There is nothing to stop a person with mortgage arrears offering to settle on terms acceptable to a creditor who is the holder of a standard security. However, should the creditor refuse the terms, the courts do not at present have any discretion about granting an order for ejection. I have no plans to change the law in this respect.
§ Mr. GorrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many houses or flats in Scotland have been repossessed by the mortgagee because of non-payment of mortgage in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [58812]
582W
§ Mr. Dewar[holding answer 17 November 1998]: Data on the number of actual repossessions are not collected centrally. Figures in relation to the number of repossession orders granted by the courts have been collected by the courts since a revised system of collecting Civil Judicial Statistics was instituted on 1 January 1994. The figures from 1 January 1994 to 30 September 1998 are shown in the table. The figures for orders granted will however be higher than the number of repossessions completed.
Year Repossession orders granted 1994 2,058 1995 3,554 1996 4,339 1997 4,305 1998 (to 30 September) 3,763