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The next agenda item is evidence taking on the council tax freeze from Tom Arthur, the Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance. Mr Arthur is joined by Ellen Leaver, deputy director of the Scottish Government’s local government and analytical services division. I welcome our witnesses to the meeting.

We had hoped to hear from COSLA representatives on this topic but, unfortunately, they were unable to attend. We hope to hear from COSLA at a future meeting.

We will move straight to questions. We had a COSLA representative online earlier, for the session on the visitor levy, and it was good to hear from Councillor Gail Macgregor that there had been good communication between COSLA and the Scottish Government in that process. She sounded positive about it.

It is interesting, though, that local government was not made aware of the decision to freeze council tax prior to its being announced. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on how that has impacted the relationship between local government and central Government.

Thank you for that response.

You mentioned the Verity house agreement and the fact that the fiscal arrangement is only a part of it and that council tax is only a part of the fiscal arrangement. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the impact on trust. Are you confident that trust can be maintained between local government and national Government?

We move on to the theme of reasons for the council tax freeze, and I will bring in Stephanie Callaghan, who joins us online.

I wonder about the funding disparities that might be caused by some local authorities taking up the levy and others not doing so. What are your thoughts on that?

I see. Again, I am just trying to get this clear. You would like to see the bill have the option for a flat rate or a percentage rate, and allow councils to choose whichever one they want to pick up and consult on.

It is great that you are at least having a conversation about a unified user experience in that way.

I bring in Stephanie Callaghan, who joins us online.

Thank you for that. It is helpful for us to hear that. I now come to Mark Griffin, who is also attending online.

Thank you for that helpful opening statement. It is good to hear that you have been listening to a variety of views through the process.

I will ask a number of questions about the general aims of the bill. Over the time that we have been taking evidence, we have heard from representatives of accommodation providers that the bill gives the impression that Scotland has a problem with tourism and that there might be a risk of reputational damage. In addition, concerns have been voiced about the impact on Scotland’s competitiveness. What are your thoughts on those two perspectives?

It is good that you have highlighted that local authority authorities will not just do that; they will be required to carry out a consultation with stakeholders.

My third question is about the concerns that have been raised that the visitor levy will, effectively, be a tax on accommodation providers rather than a tax on visitors. What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks for that response. I hear your point about streamlining things for business. That takes me back to our evidence from local authorities in which we heard how, of the two authorities that were most impacted by tourism, Edinburgh wants a percentage rate, while Highland is asking not only for a flat rate but for the ability to bring in a tiered system. It is interesting that we are not getting a consistent picture across local authorities. There is local need to consider, and I think that both authorities are quite far down the line in the work that they have done and in their keenness to bring the levy in. It is important to consider those perspectives, but I take the point that a digital platform that will work will take time to create and implement.