Seòmar agus comataidhean

Do you know how much it costs?

Thank you.

The third concern that the association has raised with us is the lack of statutory guidance on how the code will operate in practice. The association wanted a requirement for the guidance to be in place at least six months before the code’s introduction and it is concerned about the guest beer provision in the regulations, which it says will be very difficult for pubcos to manage or monitor. No guidance on how the adjudicator will deal with that has been issued. When do you expect any such guidance to be issued?

Thank you for that. The second concern that the association has raised is that no information has been given about the code’s total cost or the amounts to be levied against pub companies in order to pay for the adjudicator.

Given that we are expecting the new rules to come in on 31 March, will guidance be in place before then?

Good morning, minister and officials. As you said, minister, the committee considered the matter last year. Stakeholders on both sides raised quite a number of concerns with us. It is fair to say that, as you characterised the position, there are some almost irreconcilable differences between the different parties. On the one side, there are the pub tenants and, on the other side, there are the large breweries that own the pubs, and it is sometimes very difficult to find any consensus between the two.

You said that there had been additional consultation. From that consultation, have you been able to reach any consensus on the way forward?

I appreciate that we have the review in a year, but the code is coming into effect on 31 March, which is only three weeks from now, so we are very much in the 11th hour in that regard.

A few concerns have been raised with us by the Scottish Beer & Pub Association, which, as you know, represents landlords. One of its concerns is about the number of pub companies and tenants who are unaware of the code, which is coming into effect in just a few weeks. The association says that both the Scottish Government and the Scottish pubs code adjudicator have not been able to identify all impacted businesses, and it is unlikely that that will be done before 31 March. What is the Scottish Government doing to address the issue of people not being aware that the code is coming in?

The adjudicator is currently funded by the Scottish Government, is that right?

However, there is no particular reason why that could not happen, is there?

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you.