The Act Schedule 3 – Expenses of Money Attachment (Introduced by Section 196) Part 13 – Amendments of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 Section 212 – Further amendments of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002
757.Section 212 makes further amendments of the 2002 Act.
758.Subsection (2) repeals the requirement that a debtor signs an application for a debt payment programme. Subsection (4) repeals the requirement that a debtor or creditor, as appropriate, signs an application for a variation of a debt payment programme. Subsection (3) provides that the requirements set out in sections 3(1) and (2) of the 2002 Act in relation to an application for the approval or the variation of a debt payment programme, which include the requirement for the debtor to obtain the advice of a money adviser, may be changed by regulations made under section 7(1). This amendment is linked to the amendments of section 7 contained in subsection (5).
759.That subsection amends section 7(2) to enable regulations to provide about the circumstances in which some or all of the duties of a money adviser may be carried out instead by an approved intermediary. Subsection (6) clarifies that an approved intermediary is a person (other than a money adviser) who has been approved by the Scottish Ministers as a person who may give a debtor money advice for the purposes of section 3(1) of the 2002 Act. Subsection (5) amends section 7(2) to provide that regulations under section 7(1) may cover the class of person who may act as an approved intermediary and the functions of an approved intermediary.
760.Subsection (5) also amends section 7(2) to allow regulations under section 7(1) to provide about—
	the circumstances in which a debtor can make an application for the approval or variation of a debt payment programme where the debtor has not obtained money advice (whether from a money adviser or an approved intermediary) under section 3(1) of the 2002 Act; and
	the way in which seeking creditors’ consent to applications for approval of debt payment programmes or the making of such applications affects the rights and remedies of creditors or other third parties.
761.Subsection (7) amends the definition of “debt advice and information package” to give the Scottish Civil Enforcement Commission, established under section 50 of this Act, the power to determine the content of that package of documents and removing the power of the Scottish Ministers to do so.
762.Subsections (8) and (10) to (13) make a number of amendments of the 2002 Act to facilitate certain aspects of the attachment process which are required to be carried out by judicial officers. It was unclear under the 2002 Act as originally enacted whether the same judicial officer has to be used for certain stages of the attachment process or whether a different officer could be used at each stage. The amendments make it clear that each step in the attachment process can be carried out by any judicial officer.
763.Subsection (9) inserts new section 19A into the 2002 Act.