Since I last wrote the Institute and indeed other professional bodies have all be focusing their attention on a number of legislatives announcements and of course responses to consultations. It certainly has not been the quite month of August and September has started and is already packed full of meetings both in person and virtual.
Our response to the consultation on the frequency of revaluations should be clear - The government's proposals for more frequent business rates revaluations in England are an important and integral part of a wider fundamental review of the business rates system.
As an Institute with a broad-church of views, experience and opinions we remain focused on what needs to be done to secure the right solutions for our profession as well as stakeholders in areas of our practice. We are supportive of the proposed move to a three-yearly cycle which should also be regarded as a natural stepping stone to ultimately achieving two-yearly or even annual revaluations in the future.
In our response however, we highlight that changes need to be accompanied, from the outset, by a shortening of the gap between the antecedent valuation date and the list coming into effect; and that this is realistically achievable through improved processes that are enabled by greater use of appropriate technology.
Now is the time to size the opportunity and to champion the delivery of collaborative technology. There is a real opportunity here for modernising the public presentation and accessibility of the list, as part of the transformation process. Only time will tell if Minister and Officials are sufficiently bold and aspire to fundamental reforms or whether they will merely tinker with the system.
Other matters being reviewed as I write include the approach to changes to the Central List which present some real questions as to how the Central List and Local lists interact and the consequences that will undoubtably follow for the financing of local government, this at a time when local services and support is most needed by our local communities.
The first two weeks of September see the IRRV Scottish Association Conference, a virtual affair save for the in-person Golf Day (Covid compliant of course) in Crieff, and I am also looking forward to hosting two events one for contacts from a range of other professional organisations supportive of and aligned to IRRV interests and the other a meeting of Honorary Members and Past Presidents.
I have also been delighted to participate in and listen to a range of presentations, all part of the IRRV Performance Awards 2021. I am extremely pleased that we have seen a sizeable number of entries to this year’s awards process and each and every entrant needs to be congratulated for their submission and efforts to celebrate innovation, excellence, best practice and hard work in supporting their clients, customers and offer across public and private sectors.
I am also extremely pleased to see a great line up of key note speakers for our annual conference taking place in Telford and if you have not already booked, please do so now as it will be a great event providing us all with the opportunity to get #togetherintelford where we can all meet again in person. We have a number of special offers and of course the highlight of the final day will be the Performance Awards dinner. I am particularly pleased that we will be supporting both the IRRV Benevolent Fund and the Injured Jockeys Fund at the Gala Dinner and our host for the evening, Risih Persad, will be know to many of you as a sports presenter who hails from Trinidad. His work has covered a variety of sports; equestrian (including horse racing obviously!), cricket and golf to name but a few. He was also extremely fortunate to be one of the few non competitors to be attending the Tokyo Olympic Games. He has also led the way within the media industry and now in sport on how to better promote diversity something for us all to acknowledge and support when it comes to our own lives.
So lots to do and I look forward to meeting you all in Telford and on my travels around the country in the next few weeks before handing over to the President for 2021/22 Alistair Townsend.
Best wishes
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