Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you for that.

I am sorry Willie, did you want to pick up on something?

A couple of folk want to come in but, in the interests of time, I will see whether Elena Whitham wants to ask any more questions.

We move on to the next theme, which is on the parliamentary process. I invite Meghan Gallacher to lead on that.

Under agenda item 2, the committee will take evidence to inform its scrutiny of the draft Valuation and Rating (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Order 2021. This session is the first of three sessions on the order that the committee will hold. I welcome Marc Crothall, who is the chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance; Stuart Mackinnon, who is the head of communications and public affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses; Leon Thompson, who is the executive director of UK Hospitality; Paul Togneri, who is the senior policy manager at the Scottish Beer & Pub Association; and Colin Wilkinson, who is the managing director of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

Before I invite questions from members, I ask that those who are participating remotely should press R in the BlueJeans chat function if they wish to respond to a question. The chat function should not be used to write responses to questions, as they will not be recorded. My colleague Jenny Mouncer will help me to keep track of the chat function.

Paul McLennan wants to take the lead on our first theme.

As no one else wants to come in on the question of processing appeals, we will move on to local authority revenue.

We move on to our fifth and final theme, which is other forms of business support. I invite Willie Coffey to start on that theme.

We have come to the end of our questions. I thank all the witnesses very much for giving evidence. It was interesting to hear some of you say that this is the first time that you have been able to get your points of view across, so we really appreciate your evidence.

Good morning, and welcome to the eighth meeting in 2021 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I ask all members and witnesses to ensure that their mobile phones are on silent and that all other notifications are turned off during the meeting.

Our first agenda item is to consider whether to take agenda items 3 and 4 in private. Agenda item 3 will provide an opportunity for members to reflect on the evidence that they have heard earlier in the meeting. Under agenda item 4, the committee will consider a draft of its pre-budget correspondence to the Scottish Government. Do members agree to take agenda items 3 and 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. I will bring in Elena Whitham, who is also joining us virtually.