Chamber and committees

What I have set out to the Parliament today amounts to significant change in relation to the way in which we currently support our businesses. I heard the word “welcome” from Daniel Johnson, so I will cling to that, because I am trying to listen to positivity. I hope that he listened to the tone of my statement, which asked for positive contributions, across parties, to engage with the Government on the reviews that will now take place.

It is important that we improve access to billing because of the challenges that businesses have set out to ministers in relation to the evidence that they are presented with. It is also important that that is worked on with local government and the Improvement Service, which is why I have engaged directly with COSLA on two occasions already. The Minister for Public Finance and I look forward to taking part in a number of engagements with business to inform the review that we will undertake across the summer months. It is hugely important that we undertake that.

Some of the challenge that Mr Johnson set out is fair. I have set out a number of actions, particularly in relation to the general review of the assessor function, which has not ruled out a potential role for a national assessor, which was the other point that Mr Johnson mentioned. It is important to place that on the record. I see Daniel Johnson nodding; I hope that we have some agreement, finally, on that point.

It is the case that, in 2026-27, the basic properties rate is the lowest that it has been since 2018-19, and reliefs are forecast to save ratepayers more than £870 million. As I set out in my statement, we also have the small business bonus scheme, which is the most generous of its kind in the United Kingdom. It is hugely important, because we estimate that more than 100,000 properties will be eligible for that support this year.

I set out a number of different actions in my statement to Parliament. I mentioned previously, in response to Mr Johnson, the general review of the assessor function. However, I think that the comprehensive review of non-domestic rates will be welcomed in general by businesses. The work of looking at the configuration of all our reliefs will start this summer, as I set out in my statement. In response to the member’s point in relation to timescales, the review will deliver real change in time for the next re-evaluation.

As Clare Haughey will be aware, in recent years, we have seen an increase in vaping in Scotland, and it is highest among those aged 16 to 24 years old. We have also seen an increase in the number of vaping shops opening on our high streets all over the country, selling products that cause addiction to nicotine and other health harms. That is exactly why we are taking action to ensure that vape shops contribute to the high street, recognising the growth of the sector in recent years, and also to ensure that rates relief aligns with our public health commitments, to answer the member’s point.

That will sit alongside a range of other actions to prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to vaping and other nicotine products, including the commitment to consult on the retail display of vapes and nicotine products within our first 100 days in government.

I thank Mr Greer for his question and for his welcoming of the Government’s position in relation to vape shops set out today. I do not think that he and I will agree on the small business bonus scheme in the short term. It has been hugely successful in supporting a number of businesses across the country.

I hope that Mr Greer was encouraged by the comprehensive review of NDR, which I set out in the statement. Of course, as we approach the budget ahead of 2027-28, we will engage on a cross-party basis on all those issues across the chamber. I would be more than happy to engage with him more substantively on that point.

We will be meeting tomorrow—I look forward to that engagement.

The Liberal Democrats engaged with us throughout the budget process last year and they were able to extract a number of things from the Government. I hope that other Opposition parties will learn from their good behaviour.

We have put in place additional support in relation to the transitional relief, which we know is benefiting approximately 60,000 properties. Those properties are paying lower amounts than they would otherwise have done in 2026-27. That funding is having a huge impact in that regard. We know that 96 per cent of businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure will benefit from some kind of relief in 2026-27.

There are strengths in the current system but I accept that there are inherent challenges in relation to the issues presented by revaluation, for example, and the wider challenges that businesses are facing. It is imperative that the Government does all that it can to help alleviate those challenges and I am more than happy to engage with Mr McArthur on the substantive options that we will consider as part of the review.

In the budget, we committed to maintaining the small business bonus scheme rates and thresholds for three years, to 2028-29. We estimate that more than 100,000 properties will remain eligible for the small business bonus scheme in 2026-27—which, as I set out in my statement, remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the United Kingdom.

We are very much committed to considering seriously how we can improve reliefs at the next budget, but we have to protect the small business bonus scheme to support those businesses that we know are really in need at the current time, so I give the commitment that that scheme will continue. However, we need to look more broadly at support for our businesses, which is exactly why I have set out a number of changes in that space today.

Local government is inherently important to how we drive the improvements that we need in non-domestic rates, and local government was the first stakeholder that I met in my new role. Mr McKee and I met representatives last week to talk about public service reform, in which local government will play a really important role in the coming months. Kristopher Leask asked previously about local government’s role, and I gave an answer that talked about some of the software challenges that we have seen across the country.

There has been recent progress from local government to establish the strategic case for change around the collection of non-domestic rates, which is important. I am very supportive of progress in that area more broadly. We need an NDR billing system that delivers accurate bills on time, all the time, and I am very clear that we cannot do that without local government.

We have not yet set out detail in relation to that manifesto commitment. I would be more than happy to write to the member in due course once I have received advice on that commitment.

I did not hear Rachael Hamilton draw members’ attention to her entry in the register of members’ interests; although I am given to understand that she is a business owner. Nevertheless, it is important that the Government sets out a rapid review—that is exactly the timescale that I have associated with this issue—to report to ministers as soon as possible following the summer recess. We will then look to give a further update to the Parliament on all those issues. It is imperative that we outline that, and it is also imperative that members appropriately record interests where they have them.