Chamber and committees

It does. I did not want to pick over all of Professor Gill’s comments, but I thought that they contained some interesting pointers, as you have said. He expressed a specific concern about the new responsibilities that SPSO has had since 2014, saying:

“we should be asking whether such roles will help or hinder the ombudsman institution in fulfilling its constitutional role”.

Have you considered the points raised in those comments, given your new responsibilities?

That was helpful. Thank you.

What will the maximum quantum look like? I think that 5 per cent would mean £148 million and 8 per cent £417 million, but what about 10 per cent—or even 15 per cent? Where is the Government on this? What money will be on the table? I do not think that it has been outlined by how much the Scottish Government will fund the policy.

Thanks.

I suppose that the difficulty is that booking accommodation is not within local government control. People do that online, through the hotels, bed and breakfasts and the guest houses that they are staying with. Monitoring exemptions is therefore not necessarily a role that councils will be responsible for. As the bill progresses, there may be more conversation about that.

Thank you both for joining us today.

I will carry on with a couple of questions about the flexibility of the levy. There have been calls for a nationally set cap, either on the percentage rate or on the number of nights that would be chargeable. If different local authorities each set a levy, that might create a postcode lottery for people visiting Scotland. What is COSLA’s view on that? Specifically, what is COSLA’s view on the number of nights for which the levy would be charged?

Good morning, minister, and good morning to your officials, too.

I want to get some clarification on cruise ships. Two weeks ago, your Green ministerial colleague was quite clear that they would be part of the bill, but I think that what you are saying today is that there will need to be a consultation. Given that we are scrutinising the bill now, it is probably unlikely that cruise ships will be included in the eventual legislation. Is that right?

Thanks for that. It is important that clear work is done on the issue, because a broad range of people have said that they want certain people to be exempt. An accommodation tax is, by its very nature, not just about tourists and visitors, but there is no detail on how it is going to be administered not just by businesses and not necessarily in councils. The voucher scheme itself does not seem to cover that. It is really important that the matter is looked at, if it is taken forward.

Tourism organisations have made some criticisms about certain assumptions and calculations in the current financial memorandum. What is the minister’s view on that? You have touched on some of the potentially changing environments that we might see before the bill comes into force, but what about, say, online platforms and credit card charging? How will small businesses be able to administer that sort of thing?

I want to ask about the Scottish Government’s powers to introduce a full national freeze, given that it appears not to have the necessary powers to do so. Previous freezes have happened under a concordat with councils. Are you confident that you will be able to effect a council tax freeze across Scotland, and how else do you plan to incentivise councils to buy into this measure?

This year’s council tax is being increased by about 5.5 per cent on average, while, last year, some councils were talking about a 10 per cent increase; indeed, Orkney put such an increase in place. It is quite clear that different councils are facing different financial pressures. For example, in my region, the City of Edinburgh Council receives the lowest funding per head of population in Scotland. How would the Government respond to a local authority that said, “No, thanks. We want to increase the council tax”, as it would mean, in theory, that the national freeze would not be delivered?