Meeting of the Parliament 30 January 2025
It is not my argument; I am repeating evidence that the committee heard from those in the business sector who believe that those different decisions put them at a competitive disadvantage.
The Scottish Government’s budget for next year proposes a 40 per cent business rates relief, which is welcome, but it is restricted to hospitality businesses—it does not cover retail—and it is only for those with a rateable value of up to £51,000. Many businesses have expressed concern that that will lead to a cliff edge for them. When I asked the Deputy First Minister about that at committee, she pointed to, among other things, the commitment to review the methodology for non-domestic rates assessments for hospitality businesses. That is welcome because they have, understandably, expressed concern about the focus on turnover when it comes to that assessment. However, we still do not have clarity on when any further review will be completed.
The main strategy that underpins the Government’s priority of economic growth is the national strategy for economic transformation. The Economy and Fair Work Committee, the Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Public Audit Committee have all highlighted concerns that were raised in last year’s Audit Scotland report on NSET, including the
“gap in collective political leadership”,
the fact that there is no information on
“how much investment is needed to deliver the NSET”,
the fact that there is little detail on
“how directorates are working together to agree funding priorities”
and the
“lack of transparency about directorate decisions on allocation of funding for NSET actions.”
Audit Scotland said:
“there is a risk that NSET objectives are not given the same priority by all directorates when it comes to funding decisions.”
I raised Audit Scotland’s report with the Deputy First Minister during her two appearances before the Economy and Fair Work Committee last year. The committee strongly believes that there should be a clearer link between NSET and the budget, with NSET driving budget decisions across Government departments and more coherence across portfolios. The ability to evidence spend on strategies and what it achieves is vital for measuring the success of NSET or, indeed, any Government strategy.
As we have heard from a number of other conveners, the budget presentation has made year-to-year comparisons of spending plans that bit more complicated. The committees’ role is to scrutinise and hold the Scottish Government to account, and that requires information that we know exists to be made available at a much earlier stage in the budget process.
Following the Deputy First Minister’s most recent attendance at committee, we received a helpful letter that sets out spending plans in her portfolio and how they have evolved over the past two years from the budget bills, detailing in-year transfers and providing the latest spending figures for each year. However, the committee should not have had to ask for that information; it should be contained in the budget when it is published.
The budget has a key role to play in driving economic growth, which will raise living standards, give people more freedom in their lives and help to revitalise and rejuvenate communities. I hope that the Government will act on some of the points that the Economy and Fair Work Committee has raised about how we support Scotland’s businesses to help to deliver that important growth.