Thought leadership has the power to influence real-world change
THE concept of “thought leadership” recently passed its 21st birthday and it’s something we care about at AGCC. However, we care much more about the action that arises from our efforts to bring attention to things that matter. The concept of “policy” work is pretty abstract and while I’m not a policy wonk, I am seriously interested in practical business issues and how they impact on our economy and people.
The media activity around business rates has been remarkable over the last three weeks and particularly so in the few days before Derek Mackay’s announcement this time last week (February 21). It was interesting to see various outlets and organisations claim credit for making Mr Mackay’s mind up. The fact is that a last-minute flurry of activity on things like this doesn’t usually influence government. In general, it is evidence and real business facts that have the power to influence thinking and make real change happen.
We started our work on this early in 2016, held meetings with the regional assessor in the summer and then began preparing for the release of draft valuations in late 2016.
Leading that thinking process meant that while we couldn’t be sure what the numbers would be, the economic downturn in the region gave a strong indication for what was likely to happen. Property values had fallen since 2015, thousands of people had lost their jobs and businesses were floundering.
It seemed obvious that the values set by the rates assessor would be significantly higher than could be afforded in 2017. In property wonk parlance, we believed that there had been a material change in circumstance sufficient to warrant a halt in imposing the new rates bills for many businesses.
Local and national partners joined us in early 2017 and to his credit Mr Mackay visited us at short notice and met with real business people facing real hardship.
He accepted the exceptional circumstances and gave a commitment to find solutions. You’d then have been hard pushed not to have heard the clamour for action given the volume which increased through February. Credit where credit is due to the government as action was then taken.
So, what next? The whole process has acted as a case study for a flawed and broken business rates system. There is a lack of transparency about the comparative position of individual businesses, the timings of revaluations don’t reflect economic cycles and the parties who need data cannot easily access it.
The good news is that through our expert members and this time led by Scottish Chambers of Commerce we are on the case providing thought leadership and thinking ahead yet again. Of course, the team started that work in 2016 too, planning how to best expose the real opportunities associated with the Barclay Review.
Perhaps the best summary of our type of thought leadership is that as trade organisations, we think this stuff so you don’t have to! James Bream is research and policy director at Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.