Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government and Council Tax Reform: November 2023

Attendees and apologies

Core membership attendees:

• Tom Arthur MSP, Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth (Chair)
• Patrick Harvie MSP, Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights 
• Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning 
• Cllr Shona Morrison, COSLA President  
• Cllr Steven Heddle, COSLA Vice-President  
• Cllr Katie Hagmann, COSLA Resources Spokesperson 
• Robert Emmott, Local Authority Director of Finance Group
• Les Robertson, IRRV Representative 

Also in attendance:

• Mirren Kelly – COSLA
• Jonathan Sharma – COSLA
• David Storrie - Scottish Government    
• James Messis - Scottish Government
• Rachel Currie – Scottish Government
   

Items and actions

1. The chair, Tom Arthur MSP, welcomed members to the Sixth Meeting of the Group. The Group agreed the minutes from the previous meeting on 26 October 2023 and discussed the actions from them.
2. The chair invited the group to hear updates on the list of actions from previous meetings:

• Scottish Government Officials agreed to have continued engagement with the Poverty and Inequality Commission Tax Working Group.
• Les Robertson, IRRV Representative updated the group on the new data sharing opportunities with UK Government through the Digital Economy Act 2017.
• Tom Arthur MSP gave an update on the forthcoming legislation to provide local authorities with the discretion to increase Council Tax on Second Homes by up to 100%, as agreed by the group in the previous meeting.  

3. The chair invited the group to consider a draft of the Analysis Report of the Fairer Council Tax Consultation produced by Alma Economics. The chair highlighted that being a draft version aspects of the drafting may change. The chair also highlighted statement from the First Minister on 17 October, noting that the changes to the Council Tax Multipliers would not be taken forward in the 2024-25 budget.
4. The chair invited Scottish Government officials to give their presentation on the draft Analysis Paper of the Fairer Council Tax Consultation.
5. Scottish Government officials presented the findings of the report, both answers to the quantitative questions, and the themes from the open qualitative questions.

6. The group discussed the main themes highlighted in the draft report, and their implications. The group discussed various proposals to reform Council Tax.
7. The group reflected on the need to increase the pace of Council Tax reform in 2024, including on the form that any reform should take.
8. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The group agreed to meet again next in the new year.​​​​​​​