Meeting of the Parliament 27 June 2018
I do not want to turn this into a mutual appreciation society, but I add my thanks and tributes to the outgoing justice ministers and the members of the DPLR Committee, who have obviously given close and intelligent consideration to the bill. At first sight, the bill seems technical and dry, but it is anything but that. We can see from Neil Findlay’s positive contribution that the bill is about improving Scotland’s statute book. It is black-letter law and technical to that extent, but it matters. I am delighted that the bill has been given the amount of scrutiny that it clearly has had. I thank all members for their contributions to what is an important and valuable debate, which has confirmed that there is support across the chamber for the general principles of the bill, and that is surely to be welcomed.
Issues have been raised, however. In essence, it is a matter of balancing the rights and interests of various parts of society, and it is clear that balancing exercises have been carried out from the genesis of the bill in the Scottish Law Commission right through to its consideration today. All the issues that have been raised—I will touch on just two or three of them in the time allowed—will of course receive the close consideration that they deserve.
The first matter to mention, which Daniel Johnson, Graham Simpson and others referred to, is the fact that the bill does not change the position in relation to council tax. So far as the aim has been expressed, it is simply to maintain the status quo. How did we get to that considered position? The exception maintains the status quo with regard to council tax debt. Following the publication of one of the first drafts of the bill, the Scottish Law Commission immediately received representations from local authorities. Among the points that they made was that the policy reasons that justify excepting taxes that are payable to HMRC and Revenue Scotland apply equally to taxes that are payable to local authorities. It was acknowledged that there would be few cases in which it would take more than five years to collect such local taxes, but the point of principle was made well, and the SLC, in taking an overview of the situation, was persuaded by the arguments—