Chamber and committees

Megan Farr made a point a moment ago—Gavin Yates or Garvin Sealy mentioned it, too, I think—about the fact that qualifications Scotland staff cannot make up a majority on a committee, although they could make up 49 per cent of it. Would you suggest amending the bill to have a lower cap on the proportion of the committee who can be staff of qualifications Scotland?

Good morning. There is an interesting section in the Unite response that I will pick up on a wee bit. I will quote it so that I am not getting it wrong. You said that the bill, as it currently stands,

“does not recognise the importance of Qualification Regulation in relation to the protection of the learner. There is nothing in the Bill that would strengthen regulation of qualifications in Scotland and this is a missed opportunity.”

In the first instance, can you expand on what you see as being weaknesses in the current regulation system? It sounds like you do not think that the system, as it currently stands, is strong enough, and that the bill has been a missed opportunity. Before we talk about how to strengthen it, it would be helpful for the committee if you could give us a bit of background on why you think that the current system is not delivering as much as it could.

Good morning. In the first instance, I want to check something with you, Councillor Hagmann, about the joint working group on sources of local government funding and council tax reform, which you mentioned. How many times has that met since the change in the Administration?

From all your written submissions and the evidence that we have heard, it feels as though there are not a lot of new ideas for fiscal empowerment for councils. The infrastructure levy was agreed to in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019; the cruise ship levy was announced last year; and the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 has been passed by the Parliament. What new proposals will local government put on the table to add to the agenda? What new powers do you want on which you will be seeking agreement from the Scottish Government?

I accept that that is not your remit in COSLA, councillor, but what are the witnesses’ views on what that power could look like? The idea of a power of general competence—certainly, as it was announced—found pretty broad consensus but, when you start discussing it, you find that everybody has a different idea of what it actually means. For example, local authorities in England have very limited power to create new revenue-raising levers, so they could not necessarily create their own visitor levy, but they have significant power when it comes to their ability to invest, which has resulted in a couple of local authorities in England making catastrophic investments and going essentially bankrupt—Thanet being the worst example.

What would an effective power of general competence look like? Is it about being able to create your own revenue-raising powers—you would not need to wait for Parliament to create a visitor levy, for example—or is it about having a greater ability to invest at some level, with safeguards?

Jamie, were you looking to come in on that point?

Thanks very much.

My question is for Jamie Robertson. As an East Dunbartonshire resident, I totally get why, typically, the visitor levy would not necessarily be on the council’s radar. Given the news about Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth games, has any discussion taken place in East Dunbartonshire about the potential merits of a temporary levy, because I imagine that all of our local hotels, bed and breakfasts and other properties will be full for that period?

The news about Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games came out only two weeks ago.

My next question is perhaps for Councillor Hagmann in the first instance, but others might have views on it. When the budget was published last year, the finance secretary confirmed that she would engage in discussions with local government to explore the potential for a power of general competence. Have those discussions moved on at all in the period since? Have you been engaged specifically on that?