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Valuation and Rating (Exempted Classes) (Scotland) Order 2014 [Draft]
Good morning and welcome to the 14th meeting in 2014 of the Local Government and Regeneration Committee. I ask everyone to switch off mobile phones and other electronic equipment, as it affects the broadcasting system. Some committee members may consult tablets during the meeting, because we provide meeting papers in digital format.
Our first item of business is consideration of an affirmative instrument, which is the draft Valuation and Rating (Exempted Classes) Scotland Order 2014. I welcome our panel: John Swinney MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth, and Marianne Cook, the policy manager of the local government finance unit in the Scottish Government.
Cabinet secretary, would you like to make any opening remarks?
The purpose of the instrument is to ensure that a new gas pipeline, the Shetland islands regional gas export pipeline—the SIRGE pipeline—has the same exemption from the non-domestic rating system as all other offshore oil and gas pipelines in Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland the best place to do business in the UK and recognises that business rates play a part in attracting businesses to and retaining them in Scotland. The order will bring the pipeline into line with other similar offshore pipelines that are exempt from non-domestic rates. The pipeline that the instrument relates to is currently being constructed from the Shetland islands to link into an existing pipeline in the North Sea that is known as the FUKA pipeline. As the legislation currently stands, when the pipeline becomes operational, it will fall outwith the current exemption.
We have undertaken our statutory duty to consult on the draft order and have consulted the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, councils, the Scottish Assessors Association, the oil and gas industry, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation. The consultation received three responses, all of which were content with the draft order.
I am happy to take any questions that committee members have.
Thank you, cabinet secretary. Are there any questions from members? It seems not, so we move to agenda item 2, which is formal consideration of the motion to approve the draft Valuation and Rating (Exempted Classes) Scotland Order 2014, on which we have just taken oral evidence. Does any member wish to speak in the debate?
Members: No.
In that case, I invite the cabinet secretary formally to move the motion.
Motion moved,
That the Local Government and Regeneration Committee recommends that the Valuation and Rating (Exempted Classes) (Scotland) Order 2014 [draft] be approved.—[John Swinney.]
Motion agreed to.
Thank you, cabinet secretary.
09:33 Meeting suspended.Previous
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