Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2015
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.
I was a bit concerned when I heard the minister starting off his speech by saying that we were going to have the debate today about the merits or otherwise of the council tax and what should replace it. That is not for today; that is why the commission was set up.
I want to amend the motion because the Local Government and Regeneration Committee, while carrying out its inquiry into flexibility and autonomy in local government, heard a lot of evidence from a lot of different people who have expertise in local government and government more generally, and they all raised the issue of local government finance and the fact that we need to put local government finance on a stable footing, moving forward. It is important that the Local Government and Regeneration Committee recognised that need, highlighted it in its report and called for an all-party group to be pulled together to try to move that forward.
The committee made the point that local authority funding and expenditure in Scotland in the current year is expected to exceed £11.5 billion across the 32 local authorities. That highlights just how important local government is to every community in Scotland.
It also made the point that the four elements that make up local government funding are council tax, fees and charges, Scottish Government grant and other income. I will say a bit more about the council tax and the percentage that it makes up.
However, the committee also said that one area in which there is almost unanimous agreement among politicians and parties is that the current system of financing requires reform. That view seems to have been around for some time.
I am disappointed that the Conservative group has decided not to participate in the commission because, like the minister, I do not expect that we will reach a conclusion and say, “That’s the system of local government finance that needs to be put in place.” I am much more keen for the commission to look at options and that it is able to produce a useful report that all parties can use as we set out our manifestos and as we look towards finding a sustainable way of managing local government finance.