To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the potential impact on businesses and the economy, what steps it is taking to ensure that business and regulatory impact assessments properly reflect the real-world impact of new policies on small and medium-sized enterprises. (S6O-05059)

We are continuously improving how we work with business through impact assessment and engagement to hear businesses’ views directly and to understand the impacts when we make key decisions. It is vital that new policies take account of small and medium-sized businesses’ real-world experiences, and we continue to ensure that that is the case. We have made significant progress with our refreshed business and regulatory impact assessment template and guidance, which has been co-developed with business.

Given that ministers approved an impact assessment that included only two accommodation providers operating below the VAT threshold and therefore failed to reflect the reality that is faced by small businesses, which make up the backbone of Scotland’s accommodation sector, does the Deputy First Minister at the very least accept that the current issues around introducing a flat-rate visitor levy could have been avoided if ministers had done their jobs properly and provided a robust, representative BRIA in the first place?

I will respond to those points with the seriousness that the issue requires. I am conscious that businesses across the local authority areas that are considering introducing a visitor levy are very conscious of the impact that it might have on them. It is a decision for local authorities. On the primary issue of whether the levy should be a flat rate or a percentage rate, the decision was based on consultation responses. As the responsible Minister, Ivan McKee is engaging extensively with the Scottish Tourism Alliance and many others to understand the impact that the visitor levy will have on businesses, which is exactly in line with the comments that I made in my first answer about the importance of taking the views of businesses on board.

Does the Deputy First Minister agree that the policy that is most detrimental to businesses, charities and the public sector is Labour’s damaging hike in employer national insurance contributions? That tax on jobs is stifling growth and investment, and it has already cost 90,000 jobs across the United Kingdom hospitality sector alone. Will she therefore again urge the Chancellor to change course in the upcoming UK budget?

We know that what Kenny Gibson has just set out is factual because of the direct engagement that we have had with the businesses, third sector organisations and public sector organisations that he has cited. Not only did the national insurance contribution increase hit employers, particularly those with lots of employees, but it was a surprise for many of them, because the increase was not in any of Labour’s manifestos. It is the surprising nature of the increase as well as the negative impact of it that has caused so much damage.