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Good afternoon, convener and committee. The draft order provides for amendments to schedules 10 and 10A to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013.

Schedule 10 is amended to ensure that group relief is available in instances of non-partition demergers. The effect is that group relief will be available in company reconstructions where ultimate ownership of relevant land or property has not changed.

Schedule 10A is amended to clarify the point at which the relevant five-year development period commences in respect of sub-sale development relief. That is important, as relief may be withdrawn where significant development does not take place within that period. The amendment provides clarity for relevant stakeholders, making it clear that the relevant period commences from the effective date of the sub-sale transaction.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission considered the financial impact of those amendments in its December 2024 forecasts and deemed them to have an “immaterial” and “negligible” impact, respectively. The draft order was developed following engagement with stakeholders as part of the Aggregates Tax and Devolved Taxes Administration (Scotland) Bill process. Members will recall that the amendments were considered by the committee at stage 2 of the bill process. Although the amendments were deemed out of scope at stage 3, the Scottish Government nevertheless recognises the need for the changes to be made.

I welcome the contributions from stakeholders in developing the contents of the draft order, and I look forward to taking questions.

I am happy for you to write to me, and we will respond with regard to the timeline for resolution. Clearly, the review that is coming on LBTT will catch those and other issues—it is intended to sweep those up. I understand the point that you are making, and I commit to giving more certainty on the timescales for resolution of those issues.

Over the time for which the ADS measures have been in place, a number of issues have arisen that were not foreseen when we brought in the legislation. Changes had to be made because of specific complicated circumstances that occurred, which gave rise to a need for clarity or changes in the provisions.

With the specific measures that we are considering today, we have not had any examples of people saying that there has been a problem with the transactions that they are seeking to take forward or have taken forward, but there has been a call from stakeholders that we clarify the law, just to be absolutely sure that investors and others are clear on it.

This is very much a tidying-up exercise, which obviously happens with all legislation. I do not know whether we would have taken a different approach. Clearly, if other examples were to arise whereby stakeholders felt that there was a need for clarification or a tidying-up of technical points, as can happen with any legislation, we would seek to respond to those.

Is that in regard to outstanding issues that have not been resolved yet?

I do not believe that it will, but we will have to see. Clearly, a lot of secondary legislation will be introduced by the UK Government. I think that we will be able, by way of regulations and the code, to put in place measures in the devolved procurement space that are at least as comprehensive as the measures that the UK Government intends to put in place. I do not think that the bill will constrain us in any way from doing anything.

Thank you very much, convener. Good morning, committee. Thanks for inviting me to give evidence.

The Scottish Government remains clear that devolving employment law and industrial relations would be the best way to protect workers’ rights in Scotland, but, while those areas remain reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament, the Scottish Government will, as it always has, seek to drive up fair work standards through all available mechanisms, including public procurement.

For example, in 2015, we introduced statutory guidance under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 on the selection of tenderers and the award of contracts to provide guidance to public bodies on how to evaluate fair work practices, including payment of the real living wage, through procurement. In October 2021, we announced a new policy of mandating payment of at least the real living wage to workers involved in Scottish Government contracts, and we have encouraged other public bodies in Scotland to follow suit. Our commitment to driving fair work through procurement has been reinforced by a range of guidance, including interactive e-learning that we published in December last year.

Public bodies across Scotland are applying fair work in contracts, and the annual report on procurement activity for 2021-22 reports that, across 95 public bodies, a combined total of more than 2,000 suppliers are committed to paying at least the real living wage and delivering regulated contracts.

The Scottish Government’s ability to act in this area is constrained by the devolution settlement. However, the Employment Rights Bill confers some limited powers on the Scottish ministers, and it is for that reason that an LCM is required for those provisions. We look forward to working closely with the UK Government to build on our fair work principles and maximise the positive impact of the Employment Rights Bill across Scotland.

Not that I have seen so far. Other colleagues are engaging on that matter, because my remit covers procurement specifically. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no movement to date, but, as you know, we are forever hopeful.

I will refer to my officials on that question, because, as you were right to say, it is quite technical. Stephen Garland, are you able to give any information?

Not that I am aware of. We are comfortable with the powers that the bill will confer on the Scottish ministers. I do not know whether my officials want to make any further comments.

We take every opportunity, including this morning and in our engagement with the UK Government, to reinforce our position that, as I said in my opening statement, the best way to protect workers’ rights in Scotland would be for employment law and industrial relations to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.