, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Yes, anything further to add to that, Linda?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Who wants to start? Linda, do you want to come in on that to start?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Thank you very much. Sam, do you want to take some questions?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Thank you very much. Linda, I'll bring you back on that question and the one before, and then I'll come over to Sam for some further questions. Linda, did you want to comment?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
In the legislation, though, there is a part that says what the money can be used for and a way of reporting that through, so does that not go far enough, in your view?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Thank you for that. You touched on it earlier; in your response you said that local authorities could use the new revenue stream to fund existing spending on tourism-specific public goods and the mitigation of external costs to tourism, while diverting…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Linda, would you concur with that? Or have you seen it done differently in other parts of the world? What are your thoughts on that side of things?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
So, would you—? I'll come to you for your thoughts now, in a second, Linda. But would you, then, advocate that it should be more granular, for example, in Gwynedd, it should be more on a ward level, rather than a local authority level, or how would you—? The…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Yes.
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
I understand that, I'm a big fan of data and making data-informed decisions, and, obviously, that should help in managing resources better as well. You said that rates should be set at a destination level and that revenue should be managed at a subsidiary…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Yes, that's great, thank you. Anything to add to that in a—?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Thank you. In your consultation response, you talked about the registration of visitor accommodation, that it would improve the data collected on the sector in Wales, and substantially improve that data collection related to tourism in particular. Maybe this…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
There we are. Sam, did you want to come in?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
So, do you think the Government may have missed a trick in not legislating, or is it more of the practical view that this is the easiest way to bring this levy into place?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Linda, would you like to add anything to that, or some initial thoughts from yourself?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Lovely. Thank you so much to you both for coming this afternoon. This is the substantive part of our deliberations on this Bill. We've already heard from the Minister in charge. That was in December, but we are now taking evidence and we've got a series of…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
And we'll go online—Linda, do you want to just introduce yourself?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
Great, thank you very much. A warm welcome to you.
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
So, this is our second evidence session, and we have our first witnesses this afternoon with us. And if I could ask you to introduce yourselves for the record. We'll start in the room.
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 2
A warm welcome back to this meeting of the Finance Committee. We have two sessions this afternoon on the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill, and this is the second evidence session.
, Finance Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42(ix) to resolve to exclude the public from items 5, 6 and 9; and the start of the meeting on 30 January 2025
In accordance with Standing Order 17.42(ix), I propose that the committee resolves to exclude the public from items 5, 6 and 9 and the start of the meeting on 23 January 2025. Is everyone content? [Interruption.] Sorry, that's 30 January, to get the date…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 8
So, thank you very much for your time this morning.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 8
Diolch yn fawr. Thank you very much for that session this morning—lots for us to digest and a very short time frame for us to come to some conclusions and recommendations in reporting. But thank you for your time this morning; we've gone over slightly, but I…
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 8
I’m very conscious of time; we might run over a little bit, if that’s okay. I just want Mike Hedges to be able to ask a few questions at the end, Cabinet Secretary. I’ll bring Mike in now, and maybe brevity would be excellent in some of these. Diolch, Mike.
, Finance Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26: Evidence session 8
Based on the discussions that you've been having, where would the money come from? Is it that you're anticipating, possibly, late consequentials or something else, to be able to find that extra to give a little bit more to those below the average? Is that…
