New Petitions

Good morning. I welcome everyone to the 12th meeting in 2020 of the Public Petitions Committee. This meeting is being held virtually.

Agenda item 1 is consideration of new petitions. The first new petition is PE1793, on alleviation of water poverty. The petition, which was lodged by Gordon Walker, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to remove water and sewerage charges from all households in Scotland that are on a low income or on benefits.

The written submission from the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform explains that water charges are linked to council tax banding, because that

“will frequently reflect ability to pay”,

and allows reductions and exemptions to apply to both council tax and water charges.

The Scottish Parliament information centre briefing and the cabinet secretary’s letter highlight the Scottish Government’s proposals to increase both the discount that is available and the number of households that are eligible when the new charging period begins next year.

It is an interesting petition. In my view, there is often concern when people are told that they do not have to pay council tax but still have a charge for water and sewerage. I do not think that people quite understand the connection between the two. I do not know whether anybody knows the view of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, but the cabinet secretary has provided interesting commentary on the matter.

I invite views from members. I will bring in Maurice Corry first.

Thank you for that.

My sense is that members think that there is an issue. Gail Ross is right to say that our papers, including the cabinet secretary’s letter, provide an explanation of how the Government has progressed. I note that it has consulted on the matter, so there is recognition that there is an issue.

I wonder whether COSLA has the view that separating water and sewerage charges from the council tax would create problems for collection. I know that, in the past, some local authorities have objected to the fact that they have had to collect water charges from people from whom they were not collecting council tax.

The committee agrees that we should recognise that there is an issue, but for our own satisfaction we are interested in the views of COSLA on whether what is proposed in the petition is credible or doable, and whether there are issues around that. No member disagrees, so we will write to COSLA about the petition.