HIGHLAND COUNCIL FUNDING

That this House notes that the Highland Council has been asked to find savings of £60 million over the next three years; further notes that Scottish local authorities are now the most centralised in the United Kingdom, having had the ability to change council tax removed by the Scottish government; believes that there is a very substantial additional cost to delivering public services in the most sparsely populated region of the UK that is not recognised in the funding formula; welcomes the efforts being made by Highland Council leader Michael Foxley to persuade the Scottish government to release £10 million in recognition of these costs; agrees that budgetary flexibility should be restored to local authorities in Scotland; calls on the UK Government to write-off the Highland Council's housing debt so that additional funds are available to meet the chronic need for affordable housing in the Highlands; further calls on the UK Government to provide for a reduced rate of fuel duty in remote and rural areas, which would reduce the cost of transport to sparsely populated areas; and further calls on both the Scottish and UK governments to recognise the additional costs of delivering services in the Highlands in order to prevent unnecessary cuts in vital public services.