Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee 10 December 2025
We come to the second of the BID petitions this morning. PE1284, which has been lodged by Tommy Reid, calls on the Scottish Government to provide BID levy relief to charities and non-profit organisations. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the relevant legislation so that charities and non-profits that qualify for mandatory or discretionary rates relief under section 4(2)(a) of the Local Government (Financial Provisions etc) (Scotland) Act 1962 are also exempt from paying the BID levy, or receive equivalent relief; conduct a survey of businesses affected by BIDs in order to assess the impact of the levy more widely, particularly on small businesses and third-sector organisations; and to implement any further legislative changes that may arise from such a review.
According to the SPICe briefing, it is possible for a charity to be required to pay a BID levy, even if it is in receipt of 100 per cent relief from the local authority in respect of business rates payments. However, as shown in the Scottish Government response, current legislation allows BID proposals to include a levy exemption or relief for certain organisations. That can apply to charities and non-profit organisations if the individual BID chooses to set that out in the proposal and if the proposal is approved in the follow-up ballot. As we have seen during consideration of the previous petition, the Scottish Government indicates that it has no plans to review or amend existing BID legislation before the end of this parliamentary session.
The Government considers that the second ask of the petition is both practical and achievable. It suggests that the annual BID survey undertaken by Scotland’s Improvement Districts could incorporate questions regarding the impact of BIDs, including the BID levy, on businesses, including charities and non-profit organisations.
I cannot recall us receiving representations on this area of policy during the whole of this parliamentary session. It seems to me that work could be done exploring some of these issues.
Mr Torrance, would you make a similar proposal, with regret, to the one that we made for the previous petition? Again, I think that there are issues here that the Parliament should explore.