Barclay Review Of Business Rates in Scotland- Call for Submissions

Barclay Review of Business Rates

Dear Sir/ Madam

Barclay Review of Business Rates - How to Get Involved

The Barclay review group has been set up to make recommendations that seek to enhance and reform the business rates system in Scotland to better support business growth and long term investment and reflect changing marketplaces.

The Group will report to Ministers in July 2017. You are invited to contribute to our conversation so we can design a solution together on how the system can be reformed, whilst still maintaining the overall level of funding to provide the services upon which businesses rely.

Please submit your comments by 7 October 2016 with the completed Respondent Information Form (see " Handling your Response" below) to:

ratesreview@gov.scot

If you don't have internet access, you may post your comments to the address below.

Local Government Finance Unit
Scottish Government
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

If you have any queries, please email ratesreview@gov.scot

We would be grateful if you would keep responses to under 12 pages, wherever possible.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form which forms part of the consultation questionnaire attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.scotland.gov.uk. If you use Citizen Space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so.

The group will consider all responses made, along with other representations and evidence to produce a series of recommendations to Ministers in July 2017. The Government will then consider these recommendations.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to ratesreview@gov.scot or the postal address listed above.

Please note your response will be acknowledged, but the group cannot enter into correspondence nor can members adjudicate or offer any interpretations or opinions on the operation of the current system.

I look forward to receiving your contribution.

Kind Regards,

Marianne Barker
Secretary to the Barclay Business Rates Review Group
ratesreview@gov.scot