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Showing 60 of 2,095,827 contributions. Latest 30 days: 3,026. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 10 Jun 2026.

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

They will be checking your record today.

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Draft Budget 2017-18 (Timetable)

This has been a worthwhile debate that has been useful in highlighting some of the challenges that this Parliament faces in revising our processes following the devolution of significant new powers. Before I summarise some of the excellent speeches that we have heard, I want ...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

On the relationship between the market in the long term and the market as it is, Professor Stephens suggested earlier that, if a house is built and it cannot be sold for what the builder wants for it, it will have to be sold for a lower price. That might work for an individual...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

You have indicated a couple of times that, in some cases, builders are absorbing the cost of the additional tax. Certainly, my experience is that builders who are building houses that have significantly higher tax liabilities are saying that they simply cannot absorb that cost...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

I know that the problem exists not only in the Aberdeen area but in areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In effect, there is a one-size-fits-all tax across the whole country that is impacting disproportionately areas with higher house prices. How does that distortion play out acros...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

The tipping-point figure for when the tax payable goes higher than that in the rest of the UK is about £330,000. I come from the north-east and know that nobody gets much for £330,000 within 15 miles of Aberdeen city centre. The result, in my view, is that the market has been ...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Residential Road Safety

I congratulate Mark Ruskell on bringing this debate to the chamber. I will offer what I hope he will understand is my conditional support. It is clear that changes that have taken place, particularly the introduction of the 20’s plenty zones, have had a significant effect in ...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Residential Road Safety

I look forward to having the opportunity to discuss this matter at greater length with Mark Ruskell. I congratulate him on bringing the matter forward. I think that it is worthy of discussion, but it is also one that I have to express concerns about.

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Residential Road Safety

Yes, I will at this point.

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Residential Road Safety

Perhaps towards the end of my speech, but I have a number of points to make. Large 20mph zones are less likely to provoke the response from drivers that I described in key areas. It is also important that we deal with the issues of observance and enforcement if we bring in l...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Good Food from Angus

I thank the member for his concern. He did mention, however, his habit of putting smokies on the barbecue. Some might like that sort of thing, but I have to say that they have never tasted a smokie until they have tasted it right off the fire; only then, when it is hot, newly ...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Good Food from Angus

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Graeme Dey on bringing the motion before Parliament and to join him in welcoming the establishment of the food life in Angus to promote good food from Angus. The farming industry in Scotland has been at the cutting edge of developmen...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

Is that likely to become apparent in figures year-on-year over time, rather than being clearly visible at the moment?

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

To go back to a point that was mentioned a moment ago, we have heard that there is more activity at the lower end of the market—the first-time buyer element—and that there is a slowdown at the top end. We traditionally talk about the housing ladder and how people move up it ov...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · High-speed Broadband

Permit me to declare an interest in that, since superfast broadband came to my town of Stonehaven over three years ago in a blaze of publicity, I have still been unable to obtain a connection, as I am on an exchange-only line. Correspondence with digital Scotland has indicated...

3. Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · High-speed Broadband

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in providing high-speed broadband to rural areas and town centres that are served by exchange-only lines. (S5O-00133)

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

Along with everyone else in the chamber, I realise that there was a squeeze in finances during the financial crisis, but the SNP Government, in a previous incarnation, chose to target the housing budget for a 40 per cent cut in a single year. It reined back from that, because ...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

Will the member give way?

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

I will carry on at the moment, thank you. The minister had a speech of his own. We want ambitious targets to be set for energy efficiency, and we want all properties to achieve an energy performance certificate C rating or above by the end of the decade. We are happy to work ...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

I will acknowledge that the Scottish National Party forms the Government of Scotland and will be accountable for its actions in Scotland. If the Scottish National Party Government chooses to fall back on the slim defence of comparison with other parts of the United Kingdom, it...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

Okay. Finally, I will.

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

No, thank you. The total completions in 1983, at the height of the Conservative Government, was 4,763, which is 726 more than was achieved last year. It is worth noting that we can all draw comparisons and conclusions. The Scottish Government’s obsession with the figures for...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

No, thank you. That Government action was like setting fire to someone’s home and then expecting a medal for phoning the fire brigade. More seriously, it now points to the minister’s lazy analysis, which ran deep through his opening speech. If the minister wants to make compa...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

More Homes Scotland (Investment)

Thank you, Presiding Officer. So that I do not fall foul of your ire at the end of my speech, may I begin by moving the amendment in my name? We have finally got round to a debate in this Parliament in which we are actually talking about what is important to people. It may su...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

As you are fully aware, the timescale that you are adopting and the timescale for the committee’s scrutiny are such that, if we go ahead on that basis, the system is almost dysfunctional. Do you think that you can take us far enough forward? At what point will you be able to g...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

I am fully aware that you are always willing to speculate, but I understand why you might not be willing to speculate—certainly publicly—on elements of the budget before the information is available. That said, I got the impression from your opening statement—you can correct m...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

I suppose that the committee and the Government are both in an almost impossible situation. The committee needs to scrutinise the budget effectively. We would like the process to run to a much earlier timescale, but it is increasingly difficult to see how that can be achieved....

The Deputy Convener Con Committee

There are no further nominations. Bruce Crawford was chosen as convener.

The Deputy Convener Con Committee

Item 2 is the choice of a new convener. I make it clear that, under the agreement, the new convener will be a member of the Scottish National Party. I invite nominations for the post of convener of the committee.

The Deputy Convener Con Committee

Thank you very much.

The Deputy Convener Con Committee

Does Maree Todd have any relevant interests?

The Deputy Convener (Alex Johnstone) Con Committee

Good morning, colleagues, and welcome to the third meeting of the Finance Committee in the fifth session of the Scottish Parliament. The membership of committees changes, and we have experienced changes since our previous meeting. I pay particular tribute to Mike Russell, who...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

You describe a situation in which the chancellor south of the border can sometimes surprise people with taxes, whereas you feel that you will be flagging up tax changes in advance. Do you want the power to surprise people with tax changes?

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

It is a brief question on tax behaviour. In your letter to the convener of 23 June, you talk about “protecting future revenues which may under some circumstances be eroded by tax avoiding behaviours.” What powers do you have, or what actions do you envisage taking, to influe...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

Last year’s process was truncated. We are now in what the cabinet secretary himself described as a transitional year, and it seems that the process in this unique and difficult year will have to be truncated again. Are we at a stage where serious concern must be raised about w...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

We are aware that we already had problems with timescale; they are discussed in your letter. What will the changes that have happened in the past few days do to the pressures for you and the Parliament in fitting the process within a timescale?

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution

It is interesting to hear the cabinet secretary talk about the impact of withdrawal from the EU, given that many would suggest that the impact will be of an order of magnitude smaller than what the impact would be if Scotland withdrew from the UK. Do you take any lessons from ...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Provisional Outturn 2015-16

I note from the supporting documents an overspend of £128 million under health, wellbeing and sport. Does that reflect the growing problem of deficits in a number of Scottish health boards? Does that outstanding high figure indicate a growing problem that may destabilise budge...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Social Rented Housing (Tenants in Moderate Housing Need)

Having rejected the United Kingdom Government’s approach to underoccupancy, is the Scottish Government considering action of its own design to try to free up the vast amount of space in the social rented sector that is simply underoccupied?

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

The convener mentioned the fiscal framework. I was on the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee when the fiscal framework was being developed and it was disappointing to some extent that members of that committee and of Parliament were almost excluded from the process. If it i...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

I look forward to an early opportunity to have the cabinet secretary before us. A close relationship between the members of the committee and the cabinet secretary is vital. Although we may have disagreed to a large extent with John Swinney on many of the things that he did, t...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Committee Adviser

If such a person existed who had all the talents that cover the responsibilities, it might be possible to have just one adviser. However, I agree that it may be necessary, given the additional powers that are coming to the Parliament, for us to look for two individuals from tw...

Alex Johnstone Con Committee

Deputy Convener

Indeed, I am. I had been pre-primed.

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Committee

I believe that I have no relevant registrable interests, but I draw members’ attention to the entry in my register of interests declaring my ownership of property.

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Is it not the case that the money is not invested until the Government has found and spent it? At the moment, we do not know when that will happen.

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

The Government’s promises are not being kept. I want the minister to bring forward the Government’s spending commitments on a timescale that aligns with the expectations of the people to whom he made those promises only a few short months ago.

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

It would perhaps have been beneficial to the Scottish economy if we had been building a nuclear power station here, too. That decision should have been taken some time ago. Let me address the Government amendment. On a day when the Labour Party has brought a well-reasoned mot...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

There are many new faces and new voices in Parliament, and we have heard another of them today. Finlay Carson’s first speech in the Parliament was excellent. Surely, we are getting to the end of the list. We will see. Those of us who are familiar with the Parliament will be w...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Dignity, Fairness and Respect in Disability Benefits

I will not. It is a tribute to the work that Conservative members have done that we will not go down such a road. Other members have to introduce such language to support their arguments. The truth is that we have a different attitude, but we are the party that in Governme...

Alex Johnstone Con Chamber

Dignity, Fairness and Respect in Disability Benefits

No, thank you. Over the past five years, we have seen the gradual transfer of some welfare powers, such as the welfare funds. When the schemes were wound up and replaced by alternative schemes, there was a widespread view that those schemes had been abolished and that the mon...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Dignity, Fairness and Respect in Disability Benefits

During the previous five-year parliamentary session, welfare-related issues rose quickly up the agenda. By the end of the session, they were near the top. Much of the debate that happened in those five years was characterised by what can best be described as an unedifying scra...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Queensferry Crossing

Given the timescales, which have now proven to be wildly optimistic, and the previous attempts to project short timescales for the repairs of the old bridge, would it not be wise for the First Minister to generate a little bit more wriggle room?

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Queensferry Crossing

When the timescale was being reviewed, the project suffered its first and so far—thankfully—only casualty. Were days lost in the construction process during that period as a result of that incident? Furthermore, given the anecdotal suggestions that health and safety compromis...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Topical Question Time · Police Scotland (Financial Difficulties)

Will the cabinet secretary confirm that the full cost of Police Scotland, including the VAT, is covered from the Scottish block grant, and that if our police force no longer had to pay VAT it would be wholly reasonable for the cost of the VAT to be removed from the calculation...

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Taking Scotland Forward

Will the member give way?

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Oaths and Affirmations

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

General Question Time · Superfast Broadband

How soon will the cabinet secretary be able to deal with the continuing problem of exchange-only lines upgrades?

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Inequality

Will the cabinet secretary assure us that, rather than concentrating exclusively on the redistribution of wealth through taxation, he will do something to improve labour mobility in Scotland so that the country’s unemployed can move to the areas where the new jobs are created ...

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Committee

Finance and Constitution Committee 05 October 2016

05 Oct 2016 · S5 · Finance and Constitution Committee

Item of business

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax

Johnstone, Alex Con North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

They will be checking your record today.

In the same item of business

The Convener SNP

Item 2 is to continue to take evidence in our inquiry into the first year of operation of land and buildings transaction tax. We will have two separate sessi...

Lady Susan Rice (Scottish Fiscal Commission)

I will just say a few words. I thank the committee very much for having us at the meeting. Most of you met us during your business planning day, but we thou...

The Convener SNP

That means that you get to answer all the hard questions, Charles.

Charles Nolan is our interim appointee, approved by members, until 1 April next year. He came on board at the beginning of the summer and has jumped in with ...

The Convener SNP

Thank you, Lady Rice. We have asked questions about the compatibility of different sets of figures in previous meetings, so your explanation of how different...

Professor Campbell Leith (Scottish Fiscal Commission)

I will take this one. As you said, three economic determinants go into the residential LBTT forecast: the average house price, the median house price and the...

The Convener SNP

Okay. It is complicated. The forecasts were not quite where the outturn turned out to be, so where in the forecasting process did that disparity, if that is ...

Professor Leith

Table 1 in our outturn report shows exactly what we tried to do. The first column in table 1 gives details of what was forecast for the relevant economic det...

Ivan McKee (Glasgow Provan) (SNP) SNP

Before I start, I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of interests with respect to property investments. There is obviously quite a lot in t...

Professor Leith

There are a lot of points there; I will try to remember each of them. Table 1 does not just compare the forecast with the outturn; it tries to decompose the...

Ivan McKee SNP

Basically, the data that I have—which I have not had time to compare to your log-normal distribution—says that the number of transactions in the £325,000 to ...

Professor Leith

The average numbers pre and post-financial crisis were a bit higher and lower. If we looked at those two relative averages, I would expect that the share wou...

Ivan McKee SNP

Okay. Are you saying that you cannot answer the question, “Has the change to LBTT hurt the tax take to the Scottish Government?”—which I think is the key que...

Professor Leith

Yes. It is a different tax regime, so we were not expecting it to generate the same amount of tax.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Con

I will pursue some of the questions that Ivan McKee raised. Table 3 in your paper shows the outturn revenues compared with the forecast revenues. It is clear...

Professor Leith

Yes, that is possible. We have Revenue Scotland data only for the entire band; we do not have data on sub-bands within the band. If we had such information, ...

Murdo Fraser Con

In a previous session, the committee picked up that having the ability to interrogate the data further to understand what is happening within such a broad ba...

Professor Leith

Yes. Transactions appear to have been brought forward into March, which was a particularly buoyant month. As the situation was not obviously as buoyant in th...

Murdo Fraser Con

So, in the absence of that forestalling effect in this financial year and subsequently, we might expect that to disappear and a more normal pattern to appear.

Professor Leith

Yes. In the report, we look at March and then we look at April to identify whether the buoyant returns in March were sustained into April. Our tentative conc...

Murdo Fraser Con

My final question, which goes to the heart of the matter, is about your comments in paragraph 3.24 about what has been happening in the market, particularly ...

Professor Leith

We cannot draw that definitive conclusion based on the limited data that we have at the moment. The report notes that that is the band in which revenue seeme...

Murdo Fraser Con

At what point will we have sufficient data to be able to draw conclusions?

Professor Leith

We would need to rule out all other options. We would need to rule out the possibility that damage to the property market in the Aberdeen area is causing the...

Professor Charles Nolan (Scottish Fiscal Commission)

In principle, that could take quite a long time. Even with the additional dwelling supplement, it will be 18 months down the line before we have the final da...

Murdo Fraser Con

You are keeping a close eye on the issue and monitoring it.

Professor Nolan

Yes. Most of the tax take comes from the top two bands so, clearly, in forecasting the tax take, you want to get those two right.

The Convener SNP

You have just had a discussion with Murdo Fraser about the breakdown of the figures in the £325,000 to £750,000 band. We have discussed that with other witne...

Professor Leith

We requested data broken down as much as possible. The data that was received was broken down by price band. I do not know whether further breakdown would be...

The Convener SNP

We have witnesses from Revenue Scotland next, so we can follow that up with them.