On Wednesday 18th April, a packed meeting of Holyrood’s Cross Party Group on Credit Unions heard from a representative of the Scottish Government that its national awareness raising campaign is on track to be developed and delivered this year.
This follows on the commitment set out in the Programme for Government in autumn 2017 and the meeting of the Cross Party Group on Credit Unions held at the end of last year. At the meeting, members of the group had the opportunity to hear directly from representatives of the Scottish Government and discuss how the credit union sector could input into the campaign.
Yesterday evening’s busy meeting was chaired by SNP MSP for Cunninghame South, Ruth Maguire, who has convened the Cross Party Group since the beginning of this parliamentary term.
As well as an update on the Scottish Government’s credit union awareness campaign, the group also heard from the Accountant in Bankruptcy on proposed changes to debt solutions in Scotland and discussed how this might impact the credit union sector.
The lively discussion and question and answer session raised many interesting points which the group intends to collate and follow up on – such as aspects of the administration of the Debt Arrangement Scheme in Scotland.
Commenting after the meeting, Ruth said:
“Like the rest of the group, I was pleased to hear that the Scottish Government is well on track to develop and deliver the credit union awareness raising campaign, committed to in its Programme for Government, this year.
“Lack of awareness around what credit unions are and what they do is one of the main barriers to participation and growth, and I look forward to this campaign taking steps to change that.
“I am also grateful to the representatives from the Accountant in Bankruptcy, who generously shared their time and insight with the group during a lively question and answer session.”
Ruth Maguire MSP 