Committee
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee 26 October 2021
26 Oct 2021 · S6 · Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Valuation and Rating (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Order 2021 [Draft]
Good morning. Like Paul McLennan, I am currently a councillor—I am a member of North Lanarkshire Council. I refer everyone to my entry in the register of members’ interests in that regard. As the convener said, I want to discuss the parliamentary process. Do the witnesses believe that there was sufficient consultation on the proposals? Did you have an opportunity to comment on the planned changes, in the context of Covid-19 and the challenges that that has brought?
In the same item of business
The Convener
Green
Under agenda item 2, the committee will take evidence to inform its scrutiny of the draft Valuation and Rating (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Order 2021. This sess...
Paul McLennan (East Lothian) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you, convener. I welcome the witnesses and refer everyone to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am a councillor in East Lothian Council....
Stuart Mackinnon (Federation of Small Businesses)
The evidence that we have gathered from our members suggests that seven in 10 of our rent-paying members have paid rent as normal throughout the crisis. We a...
Marc Crothall (Scottish Tourism Alliance)
Good morning, everybody. I largely echo what Stuart Mackinnon has said. The pan-sector impacts that have been felt over the past two years as a result of cor...
Leon Thompson (UK Hospitality)
I thank the committee for the opportunity to present to you today. In answer to the question, I echo Marc Crothall’s comments. Hospitality was one of the ha...
Paul Togneri (Scottish Beer & Pub Association)
I thank the committee for inviting us today. I agree 100 per cent with my colleagues’ comments. The two-year business rates relief has been vital in keeping...
Colin Wilkinson (Scottish Licensed Trade Association)
Good morning. I thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. I agree entirely with the comments that have been made by my colleagues. ...
Paul McLennan
SNP
A few of you mentioned appeals. Are material change of circumstances appeals an appropriate route for specific factors that affect individual properties or a...
Leon Thompson
The issue is that some businesses will be caught by what is proposed. They might well feel that they are being unfairly disadvantaged by not being able to ap...
Paul McLennan
SNP
Thank you.
The Convener
Green
We move on to the next theme, which is on the parliamentary process. I invite Meghan Gallacher to lead on that.
Meghan Gallacher (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
Good morning. Like Paul McLennan, I am currently a councillor—I am a member of North Lanarkshire Council. I refer everyone to my entry in the register of mem...
Leon Thompson
I do not think that there has been sufficient opportunity to engage in the process. For businesses, what is proposed has probably come as a bit of a surprise...
Stuart Mackinnon
The FSB is in fairly regular discussion with officials, including rates officials. Although we have not discussed the proposed move specifically, we have dis...
Paul Togneri
I echo the comments of my colleagues. As Leon Thompson said, this is the first formal consultation that we have had on the issue. We have almost daily dialog...
Meghan Gallacher
Con
Given that we are exploring that theme, do Leon Thompson and Paul Togneri think that there would have been more opportunity for stakeholders to feed in views...
Leon Thompson
Yes, that would certainly have helped. I am not sure that I have much more to add on that. As Paul Togneri said, we have spent a lot of time managing the imm...
Paul Togneri
I absolutely agree with Leon Thompson on that. Primary legislation always gives those whom it will impact a greater opportunity for scrutiny and engagement. ...
Marc Crothall
The Scottish tourism emergency response group convened pretty much every week—although it now convenes fortnightly—along with other sector groups. As my coll...
The Convener
Green
I will pick up on the theme of workload issues. Assessors and valuation committees are facing 40,000-plus Covid-related MCC appeals at a time when they have ...
Colin Wilkinson
As we said earlier, Covid-related MCC appeals are at the back of people’s minds; people are thinking about what will happen going forward. It is very importa...
Stuart Mackinnon
I will talk about the appeals system in general and then come to the specific issue that was mentioned. The evidence that we have gathered suggests that the...
The Convener
Green
As no one else wants to come in on the question of processing appeals, we will move on to local authority revenue.
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I have a few questions about what local government can do to support you. On the effective use of resources, the Scottish Government stated in the programme ...
Colin Wilkinson
We are grateful for and welcome any assistance. The way in which Scottish assessors value licensed premises has always been a big issue for us. As I said, w...
Stuart Mackinnon
Local authorities have had a key role throughout the crisis in supporting local economies and businesses. Many councils—and specifically the non-domestic rat...
Leon Thompson
I support Stuart Mackinnon’s comments. Partnership is key. Throughout the pandemic, local authorities and teams in them have worked incredibly well with busi...
Paul Togneri
I echo my colleagues’ comments. The support that has come directly from local authorities and from central Government via local authorities has been instrume...
Marc Crothall
I echo what everyone has said about local authority support. Hugh Lightbody of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities sits on the Scottish tourism emer...
Miles Briggs
Con
Thank you for that. Keeping alfresco dining going can also help to support our winter clothes industry. Those are all the questions that I have for that sec...