I will move swiftly on. The next item is stage 2 of the Community Charge Debt (Scotland) Bill. We are joined by Marco Biagi, the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, who is accompanied by Lauren Glen, Catriona Graham, Laura Barrie and Colin Brown of the Scottish Government. Welcome to the committee, minister. This is your first time at the committee but, I hope, not your last. I invite you to make an opening statement, if you so wish.
Thank you for that slight air of threat in your welcome, convener. This is not just my first time in front of the Finance Committee in my capacity as a minister; it is my first time in front of any committee, setting aside the Scottish Youth Parliament, which once grilled me very effectively on education policy. I hope that this experience will be a little smoother.
I welcome the Finance Committee’s report on the bill, which was helpful and raised a number of points to which the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy has responded by letter. Today, we are focusing more on the content of the bill, so in my opening statement I will reiterate the Government’s thinking on why the bill is drafted as it is.
Our overriding concern was that local authorities might use the information that was gathered from voter registration to pursue outstanding poll tax debt. We wanted to make it crystal clear that local authorities will be absolved of their obligations to collect poll tax debt, and we wanted to ensure that the legislation is simple, straightforward and unambiguous. We have therefore decided to extinguish the liability for the debt. Had the legislation been phrased differently, for example, by making it illegal for local authorities to collect poll tax debt, that might have caused difficulties for authorities, had payment arrangements not been cancelled by debtors.
We wanted to ensure that local authorities have sufficient warning of the extinguishing of the liabilities so that existing payment arrangements can be closed down. As section 2, which is the interpretation section, shows, the associated liabilities that will also be extinguished by the bill are many and various. They include interest charges and fines, all of which were imposed as part of the process for collecting poll tax. If Parliament passes the bill, all those liabilities will be extinguished with effect from Sunday past. That will lift a burden not only from the debtor but from the local authorities, by letting them concentrate on breaking the cycle of debt, as some of them have told the committee. Getting rid of this historical debt will help to do that.
There are no questions and no amendments have been lodged, but we are obliged to consider and formally agree to each section and the long title. The standing orders allow me to put a single question when groups of sections are considered consecutively, which is what I propose to do.
Sections 1 to 4 agreed to.
Long title agreed to.
That ends stage 2. Parliament has agreed that stage 3 will take place on Thursday 19 February. Because of the recess week, the deadline for lodging stage 3 amendments is 4.30 pm on Friday 6 February. Amendments can be lodged with the clerks in the legislation team.
I thank the minister. We will have a five-minute break to allow him and his officials to leave, and to allow the next witnesses to come in.
09:55 Meeting suspended.