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To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses have been allocated extra time to pay their business rates for 2002-03 and what the average length of additional time allowed was for such payment.
To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra council officers will be employed to implement the new licensing system for houses in multiple occupation, broken down by local authority area.
Perhaps that refinement could be built into the process. I know that it would mean an extra meeting for the Finance Committee, but it could ensure that the thinking of the Finance Committee is translated through to the work of the subject committees.
All that impacts on the questions of whether value for money is being obtained and whether the new system has added an extra cost to local authorities. We seem to be entering into the minutiae of the situation.
It is therefore important to be clear about what the Executive agrees and disagrees with and for that to be explained to us so that progress can be made.The bottom line is that the deal cost an extra £235 million and four times the original estimate.
The council will have nine representatives of professional organisations: eight of them will be drawn from the eight organisations that are mentioned in the Scotland Act 1998 and one of them will be drawn from the regulatory body in Northern Ireland, the name of which escapes me. Because of the inclusion of the extra body from Northern Ireland, there will be an extra member of the public on the council.
Has the Executive given you a commitment to provide you with the resources that you will need to deliver the extra spaces if the bill comes into force?