Meeting of the Parliament 29 January 2015
I did not say at any point that those concerns were not raised. I am simply saying that, if those concerns were in fact material, I would expect to see evidence from the councils that have taken the decision to cancel the debt. Some of them took that decision over a decade ago, according to the figures that were presented to the Finance Committee.
Finally, on the issue of requirement, there was a question about what evidence there was of councils saying that they would pursue the debt. However, Jim Gifford, the leader of Aberdeenshire Council said:
“If we are asked to write off these debts we will do that but we expect to be fully compensated for the amount of money sitting on our books”.
That raises the question whether the debt is being held on the books in some local authorities but not in others. However, it was Mr Gifford who raised the question of whether the referendum electoral registers could be used post referendum to pursue the debt. That position was not just confined to the Conservative Party, though, because Councillor Willie Young, Labour finance convener of Aberdeen City Council, said:
“For the last number of years we have been looking to see how we can claw back poll tax arrears. We’ve still got approximately £1.8million to recover. The referendum gives us an opportunity to see how much money is due and how we can pursue it.”