, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
So, if I had something that was £200,000 and I was getting a rate of return of 0.5 per cent, I'd think I'm in the wrong business.
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
What's the value of the property you're talking about?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
I don't see the accounts of these businesses, but I'd be surprised if many of them were in such a situation that paying £1.75 per person per night would actually mean them closing. Do you know how I can get access to those accounts?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
But, can I just say, as somebody who was born and brought up on a council estate, I find it difficult to be told by somebody who, I would assume, has had a very privileged background that I don't understand about low-income families? I'd like to put that on…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
And you also know that prices vary, not only at different times of the year, but on demand. In a budget hotel, I paid £120 for a room for one night in north Wales, and, the same room in the same hotel, I paid under £50 at roughly the same time of the year…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
You talked about prices earlier, and I did want to come in at that stage, but I did a quick check again. If you were renting accommodation in Cornwall or renting it in Blackpool, Cornwall's roughly twice the price for almost every item of accommodation. Why…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 6
Diolch, Cadeirydd. It's fairly common, isn't it, a visitor levy, across the world, certainly across western Europe. France brought one in at the beginning of the last century. Do you know anywhere, which, having had a visitor levy, has decided to end it?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 5
Finally from me, you noted that the principle of raising the levy on children and young people under 16 years of age was unreasonable—a view that others have expressed. Has the Welsh Government responded to you on that?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 5
You said that 'registration and administration requirements for businesses need to be as simple...as possible', but we know that most of western Europe already has this levy, and we are an outlier in Britain and Wales in not having it. Is there anything…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 5
Diolch, Cadeirydd. Your written evidence emphasised the importance of clear communication around the benefits of the levy, given concerns by some businesses. Would you envisage the need for local authorities to carry out preparation work with stakeholders to…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 4
I won't say any more, I just think we’ve overcomplicated something that is really simple and it’s done in the rest of the world. I’ll end there, Chair.
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 4
I’m just speaking from personal experience. I'm going to north Wales this weekend, and I’ve gone through Booking.com and they’ve taken my money now and I assume that if I’m paying a levy, they’ve taken the levy as part of that booking.
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 4
Everybody I know who is working for you actually speaks Welsh fluently, so I'm sure you've got an awful lot of Welsh speakers there. The final bit is: the Bill permits visitor accommodation providers to allow third parties to make returns and pay the levy on…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 4
I mean, you're experienced in collecting money, with land transaction tax and the landfill disposals tax, for example. Will the processes be very similar to that for collecting the levy?
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 4
Maybe the sound wasn’t loud enough, or I’m not talking loudly enough. A theme from the Welsh Government’s consultation summary of responses is the potential for the legislation to place an administrative burden on smaller accommodation providers. Why would it…
, Finance Committee
Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 4
Diolch, Cadeirydd. What I’d start by saying is that a lot of what we’ve heard is as if we’re the first place in the world to do it. As seen from the Welsh Government consultation summary responses, there is the potential for legislation to place an…
, Plenary
Debate on the Finance Committee Report, 'Financial Transactions Capital'
I'm glad, following my suggestion, that the Finance Committee agreed to undertake a short inquiry into financial transactions capital. Too often here, financial transactions capital has been something that's happening over which we have very little discussion…
, Plenary
90-second Statements
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Stroke Prevention Day is Thursday 30 January. Strokes happen suddenly, usually without warning. I attend two local stroke groups, one in Morriston and one in Trallwn, with people from their early 30s who have had a stroke…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
I also want to outline the good work being done by the Swansea Canal Society. The canal was constructed between 1794 and 1798, running for 16 and a half miles from Swansea to Abercraf. Today, only 5 miles of Swansea canal is fully navigable, from Clydach to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his reply? I've been a long-time supporter of invest-to-save. I support the provision of interest-free loans with flexible payback periods to public services, with the aim of helping them to transform the way they work…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
3. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the invest-to-save scheme? OQ62195
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of the meeting
Can I now move, in accordance with Standing Order 17.42(vi), that I invite the committee to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of the meeting? Do Members agree? We now move into private session.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Papers to note
Right. Correspondence from the Scottish Parliament’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee: framework legislation and Henry VIII powers. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee writes to express thanks for the evidence provided by the committee, in…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Papers to note
Any comments, Kate? No. Okay. Gareth.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Papers to note
Item 6, papers to note. Correspondence with the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: legislative consent memoranda on the Water (Special Measures) Bill. This item concerns correspondence with the Deputy First…
