Barclay recommendations could have devastating impact upon leisure facilities

VOCAL Scotland – the Voice of Chief Officers in Culture and Leisure in Scotland – is the representative body for strategic managers working in Scotland’s culture and leisure services.

We are extremely perturbed at the recommendations of the recent Barclay Report regarding non-domestic rates relief, particularly in relation to the severe impact this will undoubtedly have on public services.

There are three specific criticisms of Arms-length External Organisations (ALEOS) in the report. Firstly, that their charitable status amounts to tax avoidance and the provision of non-domestic rates relief amounts to self-awarding of exemption by councils to themselves.

Secondly, that it is unfair because not all local authorities do it; and thirdly, that it privileges the public sector over the private as a consequence.

What the report fails to point out is that the exempt status is not an award “by local authorities to themselves” but an award to independent charities under charity law. If the report’s authors question the independence of the charities in question, that is a matter for the charity regulator as much as HMRC, where mechanisms already exist for the removal of charity status.

While it is true that not all local authorities in Scotland commission trusts to deliver their sports, arts, culture and leisure services, the overwhelming majority do. For those that do not, it is not a flaw in the system if not every authority chooses to avail themselves of the benefits of that system. The decision is one made locally, by local elected members in line with the wishes of their communities.

Lastly, the report suggests that the removal of these reliefs from leisure trusts will somehow restore a degree of fairness which is lacking in the third sector’s competition with private sectors gyms and fitness operators.

This is somewhat disingenuous. The services leisure trusts run are local, public services defined in most cases by the need to maintain local provision through the operation of particular buildings and facilities. In other words, trusts are tasked with operating – keeping open – certain pools, community halls or libraries, not because they are economically or commercially viable, but because they are important to communities.

Trusts use “paid for” services such as sports (and ancillary ones such as shops or cafes) to subsidise those facilities which are not commercial, and which would close without significant subsidy – libraries, community halls, museums and galleries – and those services improving the quality of life for people making up local communities.

These are the facilities, services and jobs at most immediate risk if the recommendations of the report are followed and £45 million is effectively removed from the public purses’ arts and culture funding and used to fund tax reforms on 1 April.

ANTHONY MCREAVY Chair of VOCAL Scotland The Association for Culture & Leisure Managers in Scotland Glasgow