New Deal for Business NDR consultative group minutes 27 November 2025

Attendees and apologies

•    Ivan McKee, Minister for Public Finance (chair)
•    David Lonsdale, Scottish Retail Consortium
•    Mike Grieve, Night Time Industries Association
•    Paul Togneri, Scottish Beer and Pub Association
•    Jamie Mackie, Scottish Grocers’ Federation
•    Marc Crothall, Scottish Tourism Alliance
•    Graham Howarth, Newmark 
•    Gavin Stevenson
•    Gareth Dixon, COSLA
•    Eileen Rowand, Fife Council
•    Fiona Campbell, Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers
•    Heather Honeyman, Scottish Assessors Association
•    William McFarlane, Scottish Assessors Association
•    Brian Rout, Scottish Assessors Association
•    Robert Nicol, Scottish Assessors Association
•    Les Robertson, Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation
•    Garry Clark, Federation of Small Businesses Scotland
•    Colin Wilkinson, Scottish Licensed Trade Association
•    Josie Sclater, Scottish Property Federation
•    Scottish Government officials
 

Apologies

• Stacey Dingwall, Federation of Small Businesses Scotland
• Stephen Montgomery, Scottish Hospitality Group
• Leon Thompson, UK Hospitality Scotland
• Anamika Dwivedi, Scottish Property Federation
• David Melhuish, Scottish Property Federation

Items and actions

Welcome and Update

The Minister for Public Finance welcomed members to the meeting and noted the apologies received. 

Non-Domestic Rates (Liability for Unoccupied Properties) (Scotland) Bill

The Minister informed members that the Non-Domestic Rates (Liability for Unoccupied Properties) (Scotland) Bill had been introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 24 November 2025 and Stages 2 and 3 of the Bill would take place later today. He noted that Scottish Government officials had informed several stakeholder groups on the 24 November and many members of the Consultative Group would have been part of these meetings. 

UK Autumn Statement and Scottish Budget 2025-26

The Minister invited members to share their thoughts on the UK Autumn Statement and their suggestions regarding the changes their sectors would like to see in the Scottish Government Budget. 

David Lonsdale referred to the difference between the UK Government’s proposed lower rate for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) and Scotland’s rates. He asked that the Scottish Government provide a response that would encourage commercial investment to stay in Scotland. 

Colin Wilkinson shared the England licensed hospitality trade’s view that the UK Budget did not go far enough. He noted that any changes brought about by the Independent Review into the valuation of licensed hospitality premises would not take effect before 2029 and change was needed sooner to help the sector. 

Gavin Stevenson echoed these points saying that businesses in the £51K+ rateable value bracket had not seen any increases in relief for three years, leaving them worse off than their counterparts in England. This was not, in his opinion, a sustainable situation. 

Mark Crothall pointed to the multiple cost pressures, such as wage uplifts that were having an impact on business competitiveness. He also noted the England tourism sector’s view that the UK Budget did not go far enough. 

Josie Sclator suggested that the Chancellor’s focus on RHL reliefs was to the detriment of larger properties and sectors such as the life sciences which could see increases of 4.9% next year and 10.2% in the following year. She stressed the importance of identifying other ways to incentivise businesses to avoid negative consequences such as, in the buy-to-let sector, a reduction in the supply of rental accommodation.  

Paul Togneri emphasised the importance of rates relief for the licensed hospitality industry as costs are increasing every year. He observed that the sector in England had expected a higher discount on non-domestic rates than had been announced by the Chancellor. 

Graham Howarth highlighted the burden of higher business rates placed on larger properties especially in the energy sector, and asked that this be borne in mind in the future.   

Mike Grieve pointed to the critical situation facing many businesses in the night-time economy, particularly music venues in the £51K+ bracket in city centres. 

The Minister thanked members for their comments and insights and he indicated that these would be borne in mind over the coming weeks as the Scottish Budget was prepared.

Non-Domestic rates relief statistics 2025

An SG official gave a presentation highlighting key statistics from the 2025 rates relief statistics that were published on 26 November 2025. He explained that many local authorities had experienced problems with reporting on mainland hospitality relief producing lower-than-expected figures. More reliable estimates will be published as part of the budget process. He asked members to note that these were likely to show higher mainland hospitality relief figures than those published on 26 November. 

In response to a question from Garry Clark asking why the take-up of reliefs was lower than expected, he explained that this was under-reporting rather than low take-up, due to the delays in local authority software updates to reflect the new relief. While some software suppliers had managed to make these changes in time for the 1 June snapshot, others were still doing this as late as October. 

SG officials also explained that some ratepayers don’t apply for the relief until they start to receive bill reminders from the local authority in October, and this could also have an impact on the figures reported to Scottish Government. 

Garry Clark observed that something similar happened after the 2023 revaluation which led to bills not being received until July. He hoped this could be avoided for the 2026 revaluation. 

AOB

No other issues were raised. The Minister thanked members for attending.