Seòmar agus comataidhean

That would be wonderful and very welcome—thank you. I am glad that our questions are useful.

I would like to come back on the national parks. You have talked about the idea of a single platform and said that that could help, and that is welcome. You have also said that the national parks should be part of any local authority consultations. However, if a national park includes five local authorities, it will have to participate in five local consultations. The parks have to do such consultation and are used to it, but I am a bit concerned about the two national parks having to do that work of looking externally and responding, and having to take different approaches. There is an issue there, so I would welcome a bit more thought from COSLA on how that could be approached. For example, there could be a more joined-up approach from the five local authorities that have areas in the park.

That would be very welcome, in both cases.

That concludes our questions. It has been helpful to have you both here to get a bit more insight and to be reminded a little of the history of the process, which started way back in 2018. I very much appreciate your evidence.

I briefly suspend the meeting to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

I want to come back to the percentage rate and the flat rate. You used the example of paying a percentage rate in Florence but paying a flat rate in Manchester. What about within a country? Is it common, for example, that you would go to Florence and pay a percentage rate and then go to another place in Italy such as Venice and pay a flat rate?

Yes.

I do not know the numbers, but we have heard that there are people who still keep their business records in pencil-and-paper, or pen-and-paper, mode. Would there be support for those people to move to the digital realm?

It is good to hear about the VisitScotland expert group and that we are getting the insight from people who have experience in those areas. I will move to questions about how the levy revenues will be raised.

Willie Coffey will continue on that theme.

Thanks, Willie. It was helpful.

I call Mark Griffin, who joins us online.

Thank you for that question, Stephanie. Although there is nuance and a need for local flexibility, there would probably be three things that would touch all local authorities and that you could put into a reporting framework, with flexibility around that. I take the point that that might be something for COSLA to look at, rather than it being part of the legislation that Parliament agrees on.

That is very welcome; thank you.

That concludes our evidence-taking on the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill. The committee will produce a report on its findings in the coming weeks.

I suspend the meeting to allow for a change of witnesses.