Commentary on Provisions(1) Arrestment and action of furthcoming Section 15 – Attachment of property or funds: duty to consult and power to make further provision
49.This section requires the Scottish Ministers, within 1 year of this section coming into force, to carry out a consultation with such persons as Ministers consider appropriate on the merits of attaching particular types of funds or property and establishing, or modifying, a process whereby debtors may apply to have certain arrested funds or property released. After having regard to the views expressed in the consultation, the Scottish Ministers must prepare a report on the consultation which summarises the consultation responses and sets out what the Scottish Ministers intend to do as a result of the responses. This may include, for example, exercising their regulation making powers under section 73U of the 1987 Act to modify Part 3A of that Act (inserted by this section, as explained below). The report must be laid before the Scottish Parliament as soon as reasonably practicable after the report has been prepared.
50.Subsection (5) inserts a new section 73U into the 1987 Act. New section 73U introduces an enabling power for Scottish Ministers to make regulations which could amend Part 3A of the 1987 Act to make provision about the types of funds or other property that may not be attached by an arrestment or to establish or modify an application process for a debtor to request for arrested funds to be released to a debtor in certain circumstances. Subsection (2) sets out other matters that the regulations may address, but the list is not exhaustive. Regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure The consultation and reporting duties in subsections (1) and (2) of this Act must be complied with before any regulations under section 73U of the 1987 Act are laid in draft before the Scottish Parliament (see section 15(3) of this Act).