Meeting of the Parliament 17 September 2019
It has been a good and consensual debate. As a number of members have said, it is key that we take the central points from the debate that will help with the extension of credit unions.
I think that the cabinet secretary set the scene well when she described the benefits of credit unions and how important they are at a time when a lot of people feel financially vulnerable and could get pushed towards unsavoury products such as payday loans. Credit unions at the heart of communities are important as a stable alternative.
There has been a lot of discussion about participation and the fact that 410,000 people in Scotland are involved in credit unions, but what interested me was the point made by Maureen Watt, backed up by Pauline McNeill, that the participation level in credit unions in Ireland is 70 per cent. Clearly, that participation has built up historically and we cannot turn on the tap overnight. The recent improvement in participation in Scotland is welcome, but it shows that we have got so much more to do to improve our standing internationally. It is not about simply being at the same level as other countries, but about giving adequate protection to communities. Central to that idea is the need for a strategy, which, as Andy Wightman pointed out, needs action in order to move it forward. Other issues are also involved, including housing and, as Andy Wightman said, the use of a democratic financial model.
Along with ABCUL, the Co-operative Party has done a lot of excellent work to promote credit unions. More has to be done to promote not only credit unions, but co-op values, which should be central to a lot of the education in schools and colleges. Raising such awareness with young students and pupils could certainly do a lot to increase participation levels.
During the debate, some members have mooted the idea of giving school pupils accounts with a set-up amount. That has been done previously in Glasgow with £10 accounts—it is a good idea and one that would get people into the way of using credit union accounts. Aside from some of the comedy in his speech, Jeremy Balfour suggested that idea, which was one of the very good and serious points that he made.
A number of members pointed out that we need more support from employers, and that employers should use their resources to roll out the use of credit unions. Ruth Maguire and Pauline McNeill made some good points in that regard, and Ruth Maguire was right to point out that it is worth the SPCB taking up that initiative.
With regard to the Scottish Government’s £10 million fund, it would be useful to hear from the cabinet secretary specifically how it is going to be rolled out and used to set up loans.
Johann Lamont made an important point about supporting volunteers, who are crucial to the network that is behind many credit unions.
All the fine speeches were good, but the key point from the debate is that we need to take the nuts and bolts of credit unions and move them forward to increase participation levels, in order to give them more coverage in our communities.
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