Chamber and committees

Will that be fully allocated in 2024-25, or will we end up a year from now in another situation in which £100-odd million is unallocated?

Yes, it is on par with the rest of the UK, but if someone has 20 tonnes of stuff, they might pay somebody £500 to dump it in a field as opposed to pay £2,000 in tax; that is the issue.

My concern is that inert waste might not be taxed at a rate that is high enough to change behaviour, and that the standard rate might be taxed higher than it should be, despite the fact that it has increased by a rate that is lower than the level of inflation in order to encourage more responsible dumping.

I think that red gravel stones are one high-value product. Are there other high-value primary aggregates that could be impacted by either lowering or increasing the rate?

I think that we would agree with that. Whether it is £1 or £2 or £3, we want to make sure that everybody is paying it and that your members are not being disadvantaged by paying it while their competitors 10 miles up the road are not regulated or licensed and are undercutting you.

I will open up the discussion to colleagues round the table.

Thank you.

Okay. I will not go through all of the technical adjustments but I will focus on one. Additional budget cover of £48.1 million has been provided for private finance initiative projects in NHS recovery, health and social care. It says here:

“This technical change falls outside of UK Budget limits and is provided to align the Scottish Budget with accounting requirements.”

What does that mean? What accounting requirements are we talking about here?

Yes. Has the amount of inert waste as a share of the total waste that is going to landfill increased over the past decade or does it remain fairly stable?

Thanks very much. Before we move on, I want to thank you for providing detail on the reserves in public corporations, which the committee did not previously have. It is interesting to note that you have outlined where only half a dozen corporations stand on public reserves. I had imagined that dozens of organisations had such pots of money, so it is good to hear clarification that there are only half a dozen.

We will open up to questions from members, with the first questions from Liz Smith.

I remain unconvinced that people will ship a tonne of waste across the border to save a pound, or whatever it would be. They are much more likely to dump stuff in a field a mile up the road.

As there are no other questions from colleagues round the table, we move to the next item, which involves formal consideration of the motion. I invite the minister to speak to and move motion S6M-12277.

Motion moved,

That the Finance and Public Administration Committee recommends that the Scottish Landfill Tax (Standard Rate and Low Rate Order) 2020 for SSI 2024/60 be approved.—[Tom Arthur]

Motion agreed to.