1. What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Economy about the impact of the Welsh Government’s draft Non-Domestic Rating (Amendment of Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2022 on the tourism industry? OQ57912

I held a round-table meeting with the Minister for Economy, Minister for Climate Change and the Minister for Education and the Welsh language on 7 February to discuss the outcome of the consultation on local taxes for second homes and self-catering accommodation.

Thank you very much, Minister, for that response. Llywydd, as the Minister is, I'm sure, already aware, the Welsh Government's proposed changes to raise the occupancy criteria to be classed as a business by 160 per cent has caused quite a stir within the tourism industry. At a time when the sector is still recovering from the financial impacts of the pandemic, such a change has caused concern amongst many accommodation providers who are nervous about the current fragility of bookings that they're experiencing and whether they will be able to reach the new threshold. Now, a recent report by the Wales Tourism Alliance, UKHospitality, and the Professional Association of Self Caterers UK has highlighted that the Majority of respondents to the Welsh Government's original consultation supported aligning the rules in Wales to those proposed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in England, which is a threshold of 105 days compared to the current threshold of 70. Yet, the Government has decided to pursue a threshold of 182 days, seemingly ignoring the views obtained through the original consultation, with very little reasoning provided to sector representatives as to why this is the case. Minister, why has the Welsh Government decided to pursue proposals that a large proportion of the tourism sector in Wales do not agree with? And will you urgently meet with sector representatives to ensure that any future proposals are fit for purpose? Diolch.

I thank Peter Fox for raising this issue this afternoon. I know we will have more of an opportunity to get into some of the detail in the debate that is also scheduled for Plenary today. But it is the case, as Peter Fox recognises, that we did consult on our proposals to changes to local taxes, and we had around 1,000 responses to that consultation, which was an excellent response. And the views that were collected through that consultation, including, I have to say, representations from the wider tourism industry, did clearly support a change to the criteria for self-catering accommodation to be classified as non-domestic. And there was a wide range, it is true to say, as to where people thought we should best pin those levels in terms of the number of nights that accommodation should be advertised for, and then that accommodation should actually be let for, to be considered a business and then to be considered as a business in respect of business rate relief.

We are of the view that self-catering properties should be let on a frequent enough basis to make a real contribution to the local economy and that those that aren't should be subject to council tax. And I have met with the Wales Tourism Alliance—I had an excellent meeting with them very recently—and they did share with me a collation of the 1,500 responses that they've had, which I am considering alongside the work that we're doing on the technical consultation at the moment. But we have had some excellent discussions with the industry throughout the formulation of this piece of work, and, of course, I should add that it's a joint piece of work that we are doing with Plaid Cymru.