Chamber and committees

You talked about the need for the measures to be proportionate and necessary, which is very important. I have spoken about new homes being built and about people being unable to afford to rent properties, but we must not forget about landlords, as you mentioned. Some of them have high mortgages, and they must have the right amount of money to pay for them. Sometimes, they are being squeezed out of the market and say, “We’re not going to provide homes because we don’t get the return to pay even for a simple mortgage or a simple loan on a property.” Do you have any statistics or data on that? What is your view?

Good morning. The bill proposes to remove the ability of a rent officer to set a rent that is higher than the rent that the landlord has proposed. In practice, how often does a rent officer set a rent that is higher than the rent that the landlord has proposed? What impact do you think that the proposal might have on tenants’ willingness to refer a rent increase notice for adjudication?

Thank you.

I thank all the COSLA officials for their opening statements.

SLARC states:

“there is a need to promote the work of councillors and councils to improve awareness and understanding of the important role they play”.

Who is responsible for that promotion? How does COSLA see its role in such promotion?

Why do you think that that particularly affects women?

Shona Morrison mentioned women leaving the role and the need for good BAME representation. What evidence is there that pay is a significant barrier to candidates, particularly women, people with disabilities, lone parents and young people?

Pay is very important to councillors, and they rightfully deserve a salary. Does anything else need to change? Should there be a transformational change in how councillors work? You mentioned childcare. Is there anything in the pipeline that COSLA is working on with local authorities in relation to working patterns, easy access and so on?

Thank you.

We serve the public, whether we are an MSP, an MP or a councillor. It is in their hands to say whether we do a good enough job or add value to the local area on the work that we deliver. I think that there is something to look at there—maybe through asking for public opinion. I do not know whether councils do that or it could be recommended in the future.

Thank you. My next question is around benchmarking and looking at comparisons in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Have you done any benchmarking as part of this report for the SLARC review? How do other countries calculate the pay for their local politicians?