Swinney to review business rates and red tape – Daily Business

First Minister John Swinney has annnounced an independent review of business rates, but only for licensed hospitality, and has pledged to tackle regulation and improve the planning process.

He is permanently abolishing peak rail fare, just months after his transport secretary declared a pilot scheme a failure, and is introducing more measures to help exporters and startups.

Also included in the Programme for Government is an audit of planning teams which will be accompanied by a boost to the number of planners.

Regulatory controls in key growth sectors will be assessed, starting with housing, public infrastructure, and green industries, by the end of 2025.

This is designed to make it easier to do business. The government is likely to delay the so-called ‘latte levy’ on coffee cups.

Future Scottish government regulation will be subject to scrutiny “to ensure that its purpose, content and timing have regard to potential opportunities and impacts on business and investment”. 

InvestScotland will be a single portal for inward investment, while the government will seek more co-investment from public and private pension funds into Scottish projects and businesses, by working with the Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme.

A University Proof of Concept Fund will focus on supporting research projects with significant economic potential.

The government will put more money into a carbon capture and storage scheme at Grangemouth if the UK government gives it the go-ahead.

There is to be no change to the policies on free tuition fees, prescriptions, bus travel and eye tests and no further divergence from the UK on income rax for the remainder of this Parliament. This means there will be no new bands, while rates will remain the same.

Further funds will be allocated to help women in business.

The scrapping of peak rail fares drew claims that it was an election ploy. Currently, a peak-time return journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow costs £32.60, compared with the £16.80 off-peak fare.

Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said: “This isn’t a transport policy, it’s an election bribe. Just weeks ago, Fiona Hyslop [Transport Secretary] admitted that the pilot scheme hadn’t delivered the ‘modal shift’ they were looking for. By their own admission, they failed. Now, suddenly, with an election looming, it’s back on the table.”

There was an understandable welcome from business leaders for the change of policy. David Lonsdale, the chief executive of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “The scrapping of peak rail fares should entice more shoppers into our larger towns and conurbations and improve footfall.”

Commenting on the rates review, Scottish Hospitality Group director Stephen Montgomery said: “The Scottish Government has finally listened to our demand.”

Leon Thompson, executive director of UKHospitality Scotland, said: “We’re pleased that the Scottish Government has acted on our calls not to impose further costly regulation onto hospitality businesses in this Programme for Government.

“It’s also positive to receive news that the Scottish Government will not be proceeding with its ‘latte levy’ this year. It’s clear they have listened to representations from UKHospitality Scotland that the charge would be unfair and disproportionately hit low-income consumers.

“We continue to urge the Government not to progress other regulation currently under consideration this side of the election. This is critical at a time when our sector is already grappling with £100 million in additional employment taxes imposed by the UK Government.

“We have also long called for reform of the broken business rates system and a review into the valuation used to calculate rates is encouraging. However, we note that the review only references licensed hospitality and we believe it’s imperative that this review encompasses the entirety of the sector.”

Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: “We called for urgent reforms to skills funding, the planning system, and taxation to reduce the regulatory and cost burdens on business. Today’s announcements suggest the Government is listening and, in principle, aligning with these priorities.

“However, businesses will be disappointed by the Government’s continued direction of travel on skills reform. The decision to consolidate apprenticeship funding within the Scottish Funding Council risks reducing the agility and employer-focus that a dedicated apprenticeships body can offer.

“Employers have consistently called for a responsive and business-led approach to skills, and we urge Government to work closely with industry to ensure reforms do not compromise the system’s ability to meet workforce needs.”

David Ovens, joint managing director of business angels group Archangels said: “The commitment to boost Scottish Funding Council research funding to over £325 million, alongside other measures such as the implementation of the Pathways Report, will help to support the foundations of Scotland’s innovation ecosystem.

“In addition, the promise that there will be no further divergence from the rest of the UK on income tax will be welcome news to Scotland’s entrepreneurs and investors.”

However, Homes for Scotland (HFS), whose members deliver the majority of the country’s new homes of all tenures, expressed disappointment at the “lack of prominence, urgent interventionism and detail relating to housing delivery.”

Chief executive Jane Wood said: “We needed so much more from today’s announcement. Today we needed a bold interventionist approach to increase housing delivery across all tenures in Scotland.

“Unfortunately, the housing emergency remains without an emergency response, with the Scottish Government missing a clear opportunity to reset the scale of its ambition on housing and ensure both national and local policy is shaped to tackle the housing emergency head on.

“Home builders are waiting to play their part in delivering Scotland’s all-tenure housing but it feels that we are in a landscape where the government seems unable or unwilling to fully acknowledge just how important housing is to Scotland’s social wellbeing and economic success.”

The First Minister said the programme for government is being published earlier than usual “in part because it allows a clear year of delivery on the NHS and other public services, but also due to the scale of the looming economic challenge.    

“It is a programme for a better Scotland, for a stronger NHS and a more resilient and wealthier Scotland. It is a Programme for Government that gets our nation on track for success.”  

Labour leader Anas Sarwar responded by saying: “Is that it?” adding: “After nearly two decades in power, if the SNP had any ideas they would have delivered them by now.

“The party and the man who created this mess can’t be the ones to fix it.”

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “This flimsy Programme for Government is just more of the same from the SNP and will do little to restore public trust. No wonder that so many of their MSPs couldn’t be bothered to turn up to hear it.

“John Swinney is the politician who has failed to deliver for the past 18 years, the politician who has wasted more public money than anyone else, the politician who is now desperately trying to clear up his own mess.

“John Swinney can’t possibly be the solution because he has caused the problems.”

Key announcements include:   

• The cost-of-living guarantee which includes ongoing free prescriptions, eye exams, bus travel for 2.3 million people, free tuition for students and more than £6,000 in early learning and childcare support for each eligible child 
• ScotRail peak rail fares abolished and the general alcohol ban on ScotRail trains removed and replaced with time and location restrictions 
• Winter fuel payments for pensioners restored 
• A new Six Point Export Plan, with a focus on actions to unlock target markets, and showcase Scotland to global buyers 
• A national regeneration fund that will support at least 26 projects to renew and restore communities, with a focus on delivering more local jobs 
• More rights and stronger protections for tenants, helping deliver more than 8,000 affordable homes, including for social and mid-market rent, and removing barriers on stalled building sites with the potential to deliver up to 20,000 new homes