Seòmar agus comataidhean

It is good to hear your thoughts on that. To continue on the theme of how revenues will be spent, I bring in Stephanie Callaghan, who joins us online.

I thank Mark Griffin for his question and I thank the minister for his thoughtful and extensive response to the issue of how we measure the impact. I imagine that it is also something for local authorities to ask in their consultation.

Stephanie Callaghan has a supplementary question on that matter.

Thanks for those responses, minister. I call Miles Briggs, who has some questions on the powers to freeze council tax.

We will go to Mark Griffin, who joins us online.

Thank you. I call Pam Gosal.

It was good to get a little insight into what you are busy with in that regard, minister. That brings us to the end of our questions, so thank you again for being with us for two sessions this morning. It has been very helpful to get your views on the council tax freeze and the on-going discussions with COSLA around that issue.

The next item on our agenda is to take evidence on the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill from two panels of witnesses. Our first panellists are from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We are joined online by Mirren Kelly, who is the chief officer for local government finance, and Councillor Gail Macgregor, who is the environment and economy spokesperson. I welcome them to the meeting.

We will direct our questions in the first instance to Councillor Macgregor, but if Mirren Kelly would like to come in, she should type R in the chat function, please. There is no need for you to manually operate your microphones, because we will do that automatically for you.

I will start with your views on the general aims of the bill. COSLA’s submission said that the levy would

“have a positive impact on Local Government.”

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the fact that not all local authorities are expected to introduce a levy. Will that create a funding disparity between councils that have high numbers of overnight visitors and those that have relatively few?

Yes.

Thank you, minister, for bearing with us on the line of questioning. I will bring in Marie McNair with a question on the long-term plans for council tax.

Thank you. We previously agreed to take the next items in private, so I close the public part of the meeting.