Payday Lending and Gambling in Scottish Town Centres and Neighbourhoods Summit

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Tackling Payday Lending and Gambling in Scottish Town Centres and Neighbourhoods

Ministerial conference and summit hosted by Derek MacKay, Minister for Local Government and Planning

23 April 2014, Trades Hall, Glasgow

The ‘Tackling Payday Lenders and Gambling in Scottish Town Centres’ summit was organised in partnership with the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Improvement Service.

The Minister had announced his commitment to host the summit following a debate in Scottish Parliament around the newly launched Town Centre Action Plan. The clustering and numbers of payday lenders and betting shops in Scotland raised cross party parliamentary concern as well as the personal and social impacts of using these services on individuals and communities.

The intention of the summit was to discuss a range of measures and to consider wider issues and to share good practice and ideas within the context of current legislation and activities. The event was attended by 120 delegates including representatives from local authorities, money advice and financial inclusion services, welfare organisations, credit unions and the private sector.

Consensus amongst those attending was that working together on a shared objective was the way forward. The Minister summarised this at the end of the summit:

Recognition of the amount of work and approaches already being taken by local authorities and in communities, and consider how government can help scale this in to sustainable services
Importance of working together and looking at integrated approaches, working across cabinet colleagues, local authorities and other key agencies
Support the new agreement between the Financial Conduct Authority, COSLA and SCOTSS
Detailed examination of how we use planning, licensing and other measures to improve outcomes
Develop policy guidance on community empowerment and Town Centre Action Plan to engage and empower communities on how to develop vibrant high streets
Develop a coherent Scottish approach to responding to the forthcoming Financial Conduct Authority and Gambling Commission consultations
Ensure the summit report is circulated widely and that an action plan and delivery plan are developed

Following the event the Minister proposed to develop and launch an action plan to tackle issues related to payday lenders and gambling in Scottish town centres.

Watch video highlights from the day, hear summit participant’s views and download the presentations below. You can read the social media coverage this Storify.