Academics, banker and town hall chief to review local tax

8 Jul 04
Former bank chief executive Sir Peter Burt is to head the four-member team that will carry out Scotland's independent review of local government finance, the Executive has announced.

09 July 2004

Former bank chief executive Sir Peter Burt is to head the four-member team that will carry out Scotland's independent review of local government finance, the Executive has announced.

The other members are Professor John Baillie, visiting professor of accountancy at Glasgow University; Peter Daniels, who is due to retire shortly as chief executive of East Renfrewshire Council; and Janet Lowe, principal of Lauder College of Further Education. The plans for a review were first announced by Finance and Public Services Minister Andy Kerr on June 16.

Giving the names of the review team last week, he said the members had all been chosen for their experience and ability. They would gather evidence, consider it and then make recommendations to ministers.

Burt joined the Bank of Scotland in 1975 and became chief executive in 1996. Following the bank's merger with the Halifax and the creation of HBOS in 2001, he became executive deputy chair, a post he held until 2003. He was appointed chair of ITV in February.

The review, described by Kerr as the 'most serious examination of local taxation ever undertaken in Scotland', will investigate various options, including reform of the council tax.

Although no time-scale has been given for the review, a spokesman for the Executive said the team had been set up as an independent, short-term working group.

He added that, as bodies of this sort were expected to last for less than two years, they did not fall within the former remit of the commissioner for public appointments.

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