The Scottish Parliament has been provided with an update on Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
Shirley-Anne Somerville reiterated to MSPs that the Scottish Government continues to follow professional advice on RAAC, as it always has done and is working with local authorities and other partners to understand the extent of the issue.
Ministers have been reassured that the current guidance of the Institution of Structural Engineers and risk-based approach remains appropriate.
Social Justice Secretary @S_A_Somerville has provided reassurances on building safety during an update to @ScotParl on RAAC.@scotgov will continue to follow professional advice on the concrete and will work across the public sector on the issue.
Addressing parliament, Ms Somerville said: “The Scottish Government and the wider public sector has already done much to understand the extent of RAAC issues in Scotland, and we recognise there is more to do. Everyone with the responsibility for building safety takes this matter very seriously.
“Local authorities have a clear responsibility to ensure their schools are safe for pupils, staff and all their users. They are carrying out assessments of all their school buildings.
“We are aware that some parts of the school estate in some councils still need to complete full surveys. Ministers have been clear to authorities that these must be carried out as a matter of highest priority.
“Safety is the central consideration and there is robust guidance which is followed by every local authority to ensure these buildings are safe for the pupils, staff and the public to be in.”
COSLA President Shona Morrison said: “The first point to make is that there are many councils who own no buildings where RAAC is present.
“The safety of everyone in Scotland’s schools and all other council buildings is of paramount importance to councils. We treat the safety of everyone within our facilities extremely seriously. Scottish local authorities are aware of the RAAC issue in buildings across some of their estates and have regular inspections, put in place mitigations as appropriate and closed some buildings where this is required.
“We would stress that some councils have no RAAC affected buildings. We would reiterate that safety is the central consideration and there is robust guidance to ensure these settings are safe for the public to be in.”
Holyrood’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee will visit three dairy farms and Carbon Capture Scotland in Kirkcudbrightshire this week as part of its on-going pre-legislative scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s proposals for future agriculture policy.
The Committee is due to scrutinise the Agriculture Bill when it is introduced later this year.
Having visited an arable farming partnership in June this year, the Committee is keen to learn more about different production methods used by farms of various sizes and the steps that can be taken to reduce environmental impact and restore biodiversity in their holdings.
Members are set to visit Littleton Farm and The Ethical Dairy, both in the Gatehouse of Fleet, and Torr Farm in Auchencairn. The Committee will also visit Carbon Capture Scotland, a leading carbon capture asset specialist in Crocketford, where delegates will be accompanied by Crofthead dairy farm and South of Scotland Enterprise.
Speaking ahead of the visit today, Committee Convener and leader of the delegation, Finlay Carson MSP said: “These visits will help us really get to grips with issues surrounding the support farmers need in relation to CAP payments and to understand the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for different farming systems.
“It’s crucial that we get to the root of what farmers need from future agriculture policy to best support their farms and help them provide for a just transition.
“Before the Parliament’s summer recess period, we had already covered a lot of ground by hearing the views of a broad range of agriculture sector stakeholders on the themes of food production, supply chains, climate change and biodiversity to name a few.
“But this crucial ‘on the ground’ insight will help us better understand how future agriculture policy needs to work to allow the sector to flourish over many years to come.”
More detail about the Committee’s pre-legislative scrutiny of agriculture policy can be found on the Committee webpages.
The Scottish Parliament’s burgeoning bee population has grown to over one million bees.
As the population continues to thrive, the number of beehives onsite has also grown, increasing from 11 last year to 15.
The beehives were first installed in the Members’ Garden of the Scottish Parliament in 2014.
During the summer months, the bee population in Holyrood’s grounds rises to in excess of a million bees, falling back to a third of that figure through winter.
The Rt Hon. Alison Johnstone MSP, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament said: “As a Parliament we are keen to do everything we can to ensure that the future is a sustainable one for all of us.
“We’ve had these bees with us since 2014 and they’re very much part and parcel of our grounds.
“They play a really important role in highlighting all organisations and institutions should do their bit when it comes to promoting biodiversity, tackling climate change and looking at how we produce our food.”
Stuart Hood, beekeeper and owner of ‘Hoods Honey’, who look after the beehives, said:“This is our ninth year having beehives on site in the Scottish Parliament. In that time we’ve gone from four hives up to fifteen now.
“The bees love being based here and thrive in this environment, and I’m proud to say all of the hives on site have been bred here and so are a unique strain to the Scottish Parliament.”
Key info:
The bees typically forage for pollen and nectar at a distance of up to 2 miles, but with Holyrood Park on their doorstep, they do not have to fly very far.
In the height of summer each hive will have between 65,000 and 70,000 bees.
On a daily basis, one hive’s combined flight distance for all the flying bees will equate to flying from the Earth to the Moon.
They fly at an average speed of 17mph when flying to plants and 12mph coming back fully laden with their goods.
The beeswax (which is a by-product of beekeeping) is used to fill the Great Seal of Scotland and seal acts of the Scottish Parliament.
As the world’s most important pollinator of food crops, it is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination, mainly by bees, but also from other insects, birds, and bats.
MSPs from the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee will visit Largs next week (Wednesday 30 August) to hear from local people about Scotland’s Budget challenges.
The visit is part of a parliamentary inquiry into the sustainability of Scotland’s finances.
It follows the Scottish Government’s forecast that public spending in Scotland is set to outstrip income expected by £1 billion in 2024/25, rising to £1.9 billion in 2027-28.
This means the government is forecasting that it will not have sufficient money to fund the spending it currently wishes to make.
The politicians are meeting with local people, organisations and businesses to hear their views on what the Scottish Government’s priorities should be in its 2024-25 budget.
Their views will help inform the committee’s scrutiny of the government’s budget in the autumn.
Finance and Public Administration Committee Convener Kenneth Gibson MSP said:“The focus of our work this year is how the budget for 2024-25 and beyond will ensure Scotland’s finances are sustainable in both the short and longer-term.
“It is an incredibly important subject matter given the forecast budget pressures and longer-term demographic challenges in Scotland.
“Coming to Largs and talking to North Coast people – including businesses, third sector bodies and residents – will enable us to hear different views of the impact of the Scottish Government’s tax and spending decisions.
“And that matters because the budget and the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s finances will affect everyone in the country.
“I am delighted that we will also meet the following day in Seamill to discuss our committee’s work programme for the forthcoming parliamentary year.”
Participants will be asked to give views on:
what should the Scottish Government’s priorities be for its budget in 2024-25, given the challenges that Scotland faces next year, and in the years ahead?
YESTERDAY (Wednesday 9th August), the Scottish Parliament in partnership with the Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Bangladesh held a panel discussion on the ‘Urgency of climate change and justice in vulnerable low-lying countries ahead of COP28.’
The event, chaired by Member of Scottish Parliament and Convener of CPG Bangladesh Foysol Choudhury, is part of the 19th Festival of Politics hosted by the Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh International Festival between 9th – 11th August.
The panel on climate justice featured experts on climate advocacy, including Ben Wilson, Advocacy Manager at the Scottish International Catholic Aid Fund (SCIAF); Jelina Berlow-Rahman, Senior Director of Berlow Rahman Hassan Ltd. Solicitors in Glasgow; Dr Elizabeth Cripps, Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Edinburgh and Professor Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change in Bangladesh.
Among the guests were the Consul General of India in Edinburgh; Turkish-Scottish Chamber of Commerce and academics from Scotland and Bangladesh.
The event centred on the theme of the unequal impact of global climate change on low-lying countries such as Bangladesh, Maldives, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Panellists engaged in discussions about climate change as a moral and human rights issue, and how countries can mobilise long-term climate adaptation plans to tackle emerging challenges such as climate migration.
They further deliberated on the loss and damage fund established at COP27 and how the international community can best continue supporting local actors at the frontline of climate disasters ahead of COP28 this year.
Speaking after the event, Foysol Choudhury MSP said: “Today’s discussion reaffirmed that Scotland must reinvigorate its commitments to net zero emissions, as well as its targets to ensure climate justice elsewhere in the world, before COP28.
“Failure to meet climate goals will have, and is having, a devastating impact on low-lying countries, who have contributed the least to the climate change which is devastating them.
“We have already seen an increase in extreme weather in countries vulnerable to climate change, such as the floods in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“Scotland needs to urgently engage in a multifaceted response comprising of climate mitigation, adaptation, and support, to ensure that climate justice for all countries can be realised on our path to net-zero.
“I hope this discussion offers insight into the urgency of the situation and reinvigorates the drive for change.
“We cannot afford to wait any longer before doing so.”
The panel event can be viewed on the following link:
Monday to Saturday – 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm)
Price – Free
See the world’s best photojournalism for free, at the only venue in the UK to host this exhibition.
This year’s World Press Photo Contest winners, chosen from thousands of entrants, highlight the climate crisis, community, war’s impact on civilians, and the importance of press photography around the world.
There’s no need to book – the exhibition will be free to view in the Main Hall during opening hours.
World Press Photo exists to celebrate and champion photojournalism and documentary photography.
This year the winners were chosen out of over 60,000 photographs and open format entries, by over 3,700 photographers from 127 countries.
The Scottish Parliament has been one of the only UK venues to host this global exhibition since 2006.
Special preview tour with curator (and BSL interpreter) – Friday 4 August, 2pm
Join us for a tour of the exhibition by the World Press Curator Mariana Rettore Baptista, and see the exhibition before anyone else!
Mariana will talk about the background to the stories and themes covered, and why they were chosen to feature in the exhibition.
This is a free tour, open to the public, but spaces are limited. Spaces will also be given to BSL users, as there will be a BSL interpreter present:
Cutting waste, increasing recycling and protecting the natural environment. These are some of the suggested benefits of a circular economy, but will a new Bill help make these changes happen?
The Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill will introduce measures the Scottish Government believes will help Scotland to move towards a circular economy. The Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee wants to know if these proposals will work in practice and whether they are sufficient to achieve that goal.
According to the Scottish Government, a circular economy would not only cut waste and reduce carbon emissions, but it would increase Scotland’s self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on international supply chains.
As well as creating a circular economy strategy, the Bill also contains powers to set additional charges for single use items as well as placing new duties on households and local authorities in terms of disposal of household waste and recycling.
Now the Committee want to hear from people across Scotland about their views of the Bill and whether it really will make a difference in reducing waste in Scotland.
Committee Convener Edward Mountain MSP said:“The Bill before us has ambitions for creating a circular economy which will protect Scotland’s natural environment and help tackle the climate emergency.
“But this Bill is wide ranging and will affect individuals, businesses and communities, so it is important to hear these voices to make sure the measures which are proposed work in practice.
“Covering areas such as household waste, littering and recycling this will affect many aspects of day-to-day life. So, it is vital that as many people as possible get involved in the discussion to help strengthen our scrutiny of the detail in the Bill.”
BOYACK: ‘Delayed discharge is piling pressure on our hospitals’
Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack has warned that delayed discharge in Lothian is “piling pressure on hospitals” as a new report reveals the issue cost NHS Lothian more that £28million in 2022/23.
Delayed discharge figures monitor the number of days patients spend in hospital despite being fit to leave, typically because of a lack of social care services in their area.
Over the course of the year, a total of 97,118 bed days in NHS Lothian were lost to delayed discharge, as rates across Scotland hit a record high.
This includes 70,208 bed days in the City of Edinburgh.
Analysis by Scottish Labour has revealed that the approximate cost of delayed discharge to NHS Lothian in 2022/23 was an eye-watering £28,368,168.
Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack said: “Delayed discharge in Edinburgh is piling pressure on our hospitals and threatening patients’ recovery.
“Our NHS is at breaking point and every penny matters, and it is a scandal that NHS Lothian has been forced to foot a £28million bill for SNP incompetence.
“Social care in Edinburgh and the Lothian is crying out for help, but the SNP’s botched National Care Service plans will do nothing but centralise local services.
“It is high time for the Scottish Government to step up and provide unwavering support for our social care services and increase pay for the sector’s dedicated workers, so no-one is left languishing in hospital waiting for a care package.”
The first panel included Brian Davey and Emma Swift from the Improvement Service (IS), which provides resources and support to community councillors and Community Council Liaison Officers (CCLOs), alongside Dr Oliver Escobar from the University of Edinburgh and Andrew Paterson from Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC).
Jackie Weaver, who became a household name during the pandemic thanks to her firm handling of a contentious parish council meeting, was also on the panel to provide insight on the significant differences between Community Councils in Scotland and Town and Parish Councils in England, where she works for the Cheshire Association of Local Councils.
Community Councils vs Town and Parish Councils
Committee convener Arianne Burgess MSP got the ball rolling with a question about the strengths of Community Councils and what role they could play in democratic renewal at a local level.
Dr Escobar highlighted the important role that Community Councils can play at the heart of their communities, despite having to work in difficult circumstances, while Emma Swift from the IS mentioned the vital support that many Community Councils provided during the pandemic – and how that resilience work has continued to address other challenges.
The committee was particularly interested in the differences between Community Councils in Scotland and the Town and Parish Council system in England, and Jackie Weaver was able to explain in some detail how the system differs north and south of the border:
“Over my 25-year career, there has been an enormous change in England. Twenty-five years ago, our town and parish councils were very much like your community councils except that they had tax raising powers, although they did not do very much with them.
“We have seen central government funding for our principal authorities in England reduce dramatically and we have seen town and parish councils stepping up and filling the gaps.
“The assumption is that anybody trying to raise money by tax will be attacked: nobody likes paying tax. One of the unique points about a town or parish council, however, is that you can see that every penny that is raised is spent locally.
“The other thing that we are able to do is borrow money. We have a number of councils that take on large infrastructure projects. Clearly, if you are a parish council with perhaps 10,000 electors, you will not be able to raise half a million pounds just through your council tax without it having a serious impact on a household’s budget. We are able to borrow money and we are seeing an increase in the amount of money that our town and parish councils are borrowing to deliver serious infrastructure.
“One of the things that is absolutely essential for us to succeed as a movement is proper support. We have 10,000 parish councils and an army of about 7,500 clerks who manage those. We provide support, advice, guidance, help and so on to about 240 parish councils in Cheshire, and that costs our principal authorities £7,000 a year. We are talking peanuts, but what it delivers on the ground because of the way that we work is something really exceptional.”
Legal status of Community Councils
Ivan McKee MSP raised questions about how Community Councils are perceived, given the differences in how they operate across the country and even within local authority areas.
Dr Escobar spoke about how difficult it can be for Community Councils to operate effectively because they simply do not have the powers to carry out many of the activities which are needed in their local area. This can make it difficult to recruit new community councillors, which means that Community Councils are often not representative of the communities they serve.
There are, however, very clear legal reasons why Community Councils are unable to provide some of the same services as Town and Parish Councils, as Emma Swift explained:
“The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 created community councils as unincorporated bodies, which is why they cannot do community asset transfers. It also excludes them from some funding applications. The conditions of funding applications sometimes say, “You must be an incorporated body”.
“There are things such as local place plans that they can get involved in and use to create ideas about what they want in their local community, with the idea that the local authority can then take some of those ideas forward. However, they are always reliant on other people to take those ideas forward because of the restrictions that have been placed on them right from the start.”
Planning and Community Engagement
Willie Coffey MSP raised the issue of planning, and particularly whether Community Councils have access to the proper expertise and resources to help them navigate the planning system.
Dr Escobar highlighted the survey of community councillors from 2019, in which most respondents identified public and community engagement as the area in which they wanted more support.
Emma Swift spoke about the partnership between the Improvement Service and the Open University, which provides free access to online courses in a range of relevant skills for community councillors, as well as the partnerships we have developed with other organisations such as Sustrans, Scottish Tech Army and Geoxphere to share their existing resources and tools with Community Councils.
Parish and Town Councils also have a role in the planning process, but Jackie Weaver warned against creating “an army of new planners”; community councillors need to be able to navigate and understand the system, but don’t need to become experts in planning to do that.
Mark Griffin MSP asked about community engagement, and how Community Councils ensure that their views are representative and not just that of individual members.
Dr Escobar referred back to his point about Community Councils needing to be representative to give them legitimacy, and went on to speak about the difficult position that Community Councils find themselves in and how this could be resolved:
“We have had Community Councils for 50 years and, although we need to celebrate the achievement, I think that the time has come to either reform or rebuild.
“We could reform Community Councils so that we have one of the most decentralised systems of governance, as we should do if we want to tackle issues locally and nationally. Alternatively, we could rebuild them. We could just start again if people do not want to reform them as they are.
“However, that reform is not just about Community Councils. If you think carefully and place Community Councils on a map and see the connections that they have to community planning partnerships, local government, health and social care integration boards, third sector interfaces and the planning process, you realise that, if you had highly functioning, dynamic, participative and inclusive Community Councils, you could unlock a lot of potential in those systems of local government that do not work well at the moment.
“It is not a silver bullet, but it is not far from it if we bite the bullet and do that reform.”
Community Empowerment Act
Miles Briggs MSP asked about the impact of the Community Empowerment Act, which Emma Swift pointed out is a mixed bag for Community Councils because of their unincorporated status; some parts of the legislation apply to Community Councils, while other sections require the work to be taken forward by development trusts or SCIOs (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations).
The panel then made their concluding remarks, including the importance of involving Community Councils themselves in any local democracy discussions and consultation.
Dr Escobar summed up his thoughts on the way forward for Community Councils: “My main concluding point is to say that surely the time has come – we have got to do this.
“Some people might ask whether we should spend time on such reform and whether people care about it. People care about having better places to live in, having better local services, improving their life condition and addressing things such as the cost of living crisis. All those things require a vibrant combination of local institutions that can make things happen.
“Community councils have to be part of that, and they have been part of that in many places. We need to learn and to go for the reform. The problem is not about knowing what to do but about knowing how to do it.”
The second panel featured community councillors from across Scotland, with representatives from Moray, West Lothian, South Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, Shetland and Aberdeenshire, as well as Debra Duke, Community Councils Liaison Officer in Moray, who has also worked as a parish clerk in England.
Individual Community Councils were represented as well as forums and associations of Community Councils in West Lothian, Moray, Shetland and Edinburgh.
This session provided a unique opportunity for community councillors to speak about the range of work they carry out across Scotland, including innovative projects like the Cambuslang Bank Hub, as well as raising concerns about the difficulties they face and making suggestions for how Community Councils can be improved in the future.
Community Councils and Local Authorities
Community councillors were asked about the relationship with their local authorities and the support provided by the Improvement Service through the Scottish Community Councils website and the Knowledge Hub group, where community councillors can share best practice and ask each other questions.
Bill Pitt, of New Aberdour, Tyrie and Pennan Community Council, highlighted the importance of the relationship between Community Councils and the local council: “As a Community Council, we do not work in a vacuum; we work very closely with Aberdeenshire Council and it is a two-way street.
“We need the council as much as possible and we appreciate and respect its assistance, including from individual departments and so forth.
“Aberdeenshire Council and other local authorities need Community Councils. We are the eyes and the ears for the local authority. It is very important for Community Councils to work with the local authority to identify particular funds that might be available and solutions that we can work together on.
“Working closely with the local authority is the most important thing that we can do, because it has the expertise to point us in certain directions in areas that we might need some guidance on.”
John Bachtler of Cambuslang Community Council spoke about the work South Lanarkshire Council has done to support community councillors to understand the planning system, including the creation of a toolkit to help Community Councils navigate issues around planning.
The Joint Forum of Community Councils in West Lothian, represented at this event by Donald Stavert, enjoys a very positive relationship with West Lothian Council, meeting the chief executive twice a year; though Donald was at pains to point out that this good working relationship doesn’t stop them from criticising West Lothian Council when they need to!
The Joint Forum has also worked closely with the Improvement Service over the last 18 months, including an ultimately unsuccessful joint bid for Scottish Government funding to support the use of the Consul software for community engagement.
In talking about the difficulties faced by Community Councils as a result of their unincorporated status under the 1973 legislation, Steve Kerr of Edinburgh Association of Community Councils was clear that there needs to be a change: “Frankly, I believe that we need to go back to the drawing board.
“We need to go back to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and free up some of those opportunities and to remove some of the restrictions that were placed on community councils in the act.
“We can be involved locally in agitating for a community asset transfer for a community centre—which we did, representing the community council—but we cannot be physically involved, which, quite honestly, is an inhibitor.
“That would be something that would be appreciated by the community because we could be at the forefront of things. We do play a co-ordinating role but I do not think that it is widely appreciated as it might be.”
CCLO support for Community Councils
Debra Duke, CCLO at Moray Council, was able to bring her unique perspective of both the Scottish and English systems, having previously worked as a parish clerk in England.
As well as many of the same points about clerk support and tax raising powers mentioned by Jackie Weaver, Debra also impressed on the committee the need for Community Councils to be supported by good governance through policies and working practices.
She highlighted that these are often shared between local authorities, as many CCLOs only work part-time or have other roles to perform: “I work 20 hours a week; I have 17 established community councils, but I could have 20. I am just firefighting and I am finding that I cannot put in place the proper support that the councils need.
“The Improvement Service delivered a brilliant session of social media training to the Northern Alliance of community council liaison officers last year; it was a train-the-trainer session, but I have not had the time to pass that training on to the Moray councils.
“Everyone is quite stretched and no one has enough time or resources. If Community Councils had more resources to, say, employ secretaries, that would really strengthen their ability to carry out the work that they need to do.”
Future of Community Councils
On the future of Community Councils, Donald Stavert spoke about a blueprint which had been developed by all the West Lothian Community Councils before the pandemic, and which was going to be the main subject for discussion at a national conference organised by the Joint Forum of Community Councils in West Lothian for 10 June.
The issue of funding for Community Councils was raised by Bill Pitt, who pointed out that Community Councils provide an excellent return on investment:
“Someone on the previous panel said that there are something in the neighbourhood of 1,200 community councils in Scotland; if you look at the budget numbers—that is, at the admin grants received by the Community Councils from the local authority—you will see that, at the high end, they might get £1,000.
“In other words, £1.2 million of public money funds community councils throughout Scotland, and we can see how much Scotland and its communities gain from that little bit of money and that very small investment.
“Clearly, if what we are looking at is Community Councils being given more powers—or whatever the future might hold for them—we can only imagine what return we might get if the councils had serious funding.”
Recruiting young people to Community Councils
All the panellists had something to say about the difficulties of recruiting young people to join Community Councils, as well as the various methods and initiatives that they have used to try and attract a younger demographic.
Alastair Kennedy, from the Joint Community Councils of Moray, highlighted an initiative where they gave a group of local youngsters £50,000 from the Investing in Communities Fund to run their own participatory budgeting exercise, to make sure that the money was being spent on something important to them.
Cambuslang Community Council has reached out to local youth groups and has involved students on the Community Development course at Glasgow University in individual projects, while Shayne McLeod from the Association of Shetland Community Councils spoke about their work with the local Scottish Youth Parliament member and a local project called OPEN, which has seen young people set up and run their own committee.
Barry Cathie, himself a relatively young community councillor from Rutherglen, was clear about the importance of involving young people in the process: “We need a voice of young people in the community.
“At the moment, there is not much for them to get involved in. They cannot really voice their concerns. If they come to meetings on subjects that they are interested in, their voices will be heard and they can bring their experience to us and tell us things that they know that we do not know.
“It will also give them training in how to become involved, and how to become a community councillor when the time comes—I think that people need to be over 18 to get elected. It is good to have that because, as I say, it gives them a voice and improves their image in the community as they become better people.”
The final words of the session came from John Bachtler, who urged the committee to be bold in their actions:“I wanted to personally encourage the committee to go for significant reform, because there is a real democratic deficit. I work on regional local development across Europe.
“We have virtually the poorest community empowerment and representation structures in Europe, given the absence of a community level of influence.
“We have towns of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 people that are without any form of self-government. I encourage the committee to think radically.”
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill will be the focus of a new public consultation launched today by the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament in May 2023.
If passed, the legislation will give local authorities the ability to add an additional charge to overnight accommodation if they choose to do so. This will be based on a percentage of the cost, with the rate set by individual councils.
The Committee is seeking views from businesses, tourism organisations, community groups, individuals, and other key stakeholders over the summer ahead of its consideration of the general principles of the Bill.
Following the consultation period, the Committee will listen to the views of stakeholders before producing a report setting out its findings. MSPs will then debate the Bill in the Chamber and decide whether it should proceed.
The Committee is launching the call for views ahead of a meeting in Kirkwall later today with Destination Orkney to discuss their views on the Bill.
Commenting on the launch, Committee Convener Ariane Burgess MSP said: “We’ve now launched a call for views on the Scottish Government’s Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill and want to hear from as wide a range of communities, tourism organisations, businesses, and individuals as possible to inform our scrutiny.
“Tourism is one of Scotland’s leading growth industries, contributing more than £4 billion to our economy each year, so ensuring these proposals work for those connected to the industry is essential.
“The Bill provides a framework for local authorities to decide how money raised should be spent within local communities, how flexible they can be with where and when the levy would apply and whether certain exemptions should apply, all of which we want to gather detailed views on from urban, rural and island communities across Scotland.”
The call for views will run from Monday 26th June 2023 to Friday 1 September.
Those wishing to respond can choose to provide a detailed response to the Committee about the Bill or make brief and general comments, joining the conversation about the Bill on the Committee’s engagement website.
