Meeting of the Parliament 27 June 2018
I do not think that such a comparative exercise has been done. The scope of the bill does not go that wide. As Tom Arthur mentioned, the purpose of the bill is to amend, reform and clarify the law on prescription in Scotland; it is not to bring about wholesale reform of debt recovery and the arrangements for the collection of taxes and revenues. Therefore, the answer to Mr Johnson’s question is no.
We know that more than £2 billion-worth of council tax debt is owed across Scotland, £1.2 billion of which relates to debts that are more than five years old. It is likely that making the prescription period for those debts five years would force a change in the way in which councils recover the debt, which would be to the detriment of the debtor, about whom Neil Findlay has spoken so passionately. In its letter to the DPLR Committee, COSLA made it clear that a greater impetus would be given to local authorities to secure repayment within the reduced period. There are competing issues, and arguments can be made on both sides, but the Scottish Government, in common with the Scottish Law Commission, is satisfied that the exemption for council tax debt is justified.
I turn briefly to the exception to the five-year prescription period for social security. Again, it is a question of maintaining the status quo, which is that 20-year negative prescription applies. In England and Wales, the analogous legal concept is limitation rather than prescription, so the debt might still be active after that time. It is crystal clear from the DWP’s evidence to the committee that making reserved benefit overpayment subject to the five-year prescription period would impose greater hardship on the most vulnerable members of society. That is a key message, which has been delivered to the SLC and the DPLR Committee repeatedly, and it is part of the balancing exercise that I have mentioned. I am sure that the committee, as it outlined in its report, is keen to ensure that greater hardship is not imposed on the most vulnerable in our society.