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I want to ask about the Scottish Government’s powers to introduce a full national freeze, given that it appears not to have the necessary powers to do so. Previous freezes have happened under a concordat with councils. Are you confident that you will be able to effect a council tax freeze across Scotland, and how else do you plan to incentivise councils to buy into this measure?

This year’s council tax is being increased by about 5.5 per cent on average, while, last year, some councils were talking about a 10 per cent increase; indeed, Orkney put such an increase in place. It is quite clear that different councils are facing different financial pressures. For example, in my region, the City of Edinburgh Council receives the lowest funding per head of population in Scotland. How would the Government respond to a local authority that said, “No, thanks. We want to increase the council tax”, as it would mean, in theory, that the national freeze would not be delivered?

Throughout the time that we have been looking at the bill, I have raised the issue of exemptions for individuals. The fact is that this is more of an accommodation tax than a tourist tax and some groups of people—those who are staying in hotels while they visit family members in hospital, for example—should not be captured by it. First, does COSLA support exemptions, and secondly, how could such exemptions best be delivered? The bill includes a section on voucher schemes, but that is the only detail that the Scottish Government has given.

Has the Government been in touch with the Manchester scheme, which is the only scheme that is currently operational in the UK?

Okay. Thank you.

My questions relate to exemptions, which is a matter that I have been trying to pursue throughout our work on the bill.

Currently, in the bill, the Government proposes a voucher scheme. To date, it has not been clear how accommodation providers would be able to check whether individuals who thought that they were not eligible for a visitor levy were actually eligible or not. What work is going on in that respect, given the broad consensus that some people should not pay—for example, those who are visiting children in hospital or family members in prison? Actually, quite a broad range of people should, I think, be exempt.

I realise that at the minute you are answering quite a few questions from me on this issue, but it is quite important that we get it right before the bill is administered, likely by hotels and individual businesses. What is the Government’s thinking on how exemptions will work in practice?

Thank you for joining us here and online today. As I have done previously, I want to ask some questions about exemptions. Currently, the bill mentions a possible scheme involving exemption vouchers. What is your view on whether we should have an exemption scheme, and would that be best taken forward nationally or locally? Have you done any work on that? I know Festivals Edinburgh is in favour of the provision, so I will maybe bring in Julia Amour first.

Thank you for that. The complexity is in the fact that councils are not where people book accommodation, so provision of evidence of eligibility for exemption will be difficult. I do not think, from looking at the matter, that there are many examples around the world of good exemption schemes that we could take off the shelf to apply to the bill.

Has the industry done any work to find out what percentage of people would be staying in accommodation with exemptions? The types of people we would want to see being exempted broadens out widely. You have mentioned some: people visiting individuals in hospital or in prison, for example. There is potentially a huge number of people. The STA’s submission mentions additional costs that the scheme would place on school trips coming to an area. People from charities, medical professionals and military personnel are wider groups of people who should also be exempt from paying the levy because they would be working or undertaking charitable work.

I live here, but other members might be interested. [Laughter.]