Chamber and committees

I welcome the panel. My first question is directed to Gail Macgregor from COSLA. The figures from Her Majesty’s Treasury, as published in a “Block Grant Transparency” document, show that the Scottish Government’s resource budget has been cut by £2.6 billion in real terms between 2021-22 and 2022-23. Taking that together with the real-terms capital budget cut of 9.7 per cent, does COSLA agree that the Scottish Government’s budget position is quite difficult and that the focus must be on the priorities that are shared by local and national Government, such as lifting children out of poverty?

Thank you for adding that. I think that we all agree that money is definitely well spent on the shared priorities that we seek to achieve, which will have a significant impact on communities.

My final question is for Gail Macgregor. COSLA’s blueprint for local government called for the

“Removal of a cap on Council Tax so that this is a truly local tax.”

You touched on that. I will move on to ask about the proposed fiscal framework, for which we have been waiting for a long time. The cabinet secretary has said that it will enable us to have multiyear settlements. I would like to get a feeling for the perspective of Gail Macgregor and COSLA on that. COSLA asked for the council tax cap to be lifted. How will the negotiations about a fiscal framework take us to the next level of local flexibility?

Thank you very much for that, Gail. Does Eileen Rowand want to comment on that, or did she want to come in on the previous question?

I have a question about your assertion that the Scottish block grant is to increase significantly next year. David Eiser of the Fraser of Allander Institute observed recently that next year’s block grant is

“really not very generous at all”.

Do you agree that, once non-recurring Covid consequentials are stripped out, Scotland’s resource budget will be cut by 7.1 per cent in real terms and the capital budget will be cut by 9.7 per cent in real terms? That gives rise to a difficult budget situation that is presented to the Scottish Government. The 5 per cent uplift for local government is therefore as fair as it is possible to be. You asserted that the Scottish Government’s budget will experience a real-terms increase from Westminster.

I have been contacted by constituents who have advised of their anxieties as they wait for cases to go to court. As we know, court closures during the pandemic have led to a significant backlog of cases. Will the First Minister provide an update on the Scottish Government’s work to enable backlogs across the criminal justice service to be cleared?

Recognising the important role that our health and social care partnerships play in delivering critical and essential care package services and the pressures that they are currently operating under, with limited staffing and a build-up in demand, and noting that the exemplar partnership of East Ayrshire—I am still an East Ayrshire councillor—is struggling and looking at a range of temporary alternatives while recruitment is on-going to bring in additional staff to support the increase in demand, what support can the Scottish Government provide to assist health and social care partnerships at this critical time?

It is clear to me that local authorities must balance the needs and concerns of the communities that they serve with the needs of the wider tourism sector and owners of local short-term let accommodation. Although short-term lets are a flexible option for individuals, we must balance that with the issue of overall safety, the loss of residential housing stock, the antisocial behaviour that we have seen and the potential for criminal activity to occur, while creating a level playing field across the sector.

On balance, I do not think that a licensing scheme would be overly onerous, and I propose that we agree to the motion.

Tourism stakeholders have raised concerns about the application process being a de facto ban. They alluded to what is happening in Dublin where there is uncertainty about whether the licensing renewal process might stymie their business. How would you respond to those concerns? Are they well founded?

Can you reassure us that the licensing authorities will not be able to use the licensing scheme as a means of revenue generation and that fees applied will cover their own costs only? Can you confirm that you will provide guidance—we have already heard a lot about that—to licensing authorities on parameters for setting the fees, and on other issues that require local flexibility? As you have already said, local authorities know their communities best.

I refer everyone to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am still a serving councillor on East Ayrshire Council.

Nicola Robison from Police Scotland told the committee on 14 December that Police Scotland is broadly supportive of the licensing scheme and welcomes the inclusion of the fit and proper person test to ensure the safeguarding of guests and neighbours. She told the committee about criminal exploitation arising from a lack of regulation. Do you recognise the risk of criminal activity? How would the licensing scheme help to combat that?