No, Chair, I’ll address that point now. I would have come to it later, but I’ll do it now, by all means. I was simply referring to one of the recommendations in the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee’s report about the current system. Am I interested in exploring an alternative system, a reformed system, for non-domestic rates? I am. I’ve set work in hand. Does that have to be property based? I don’t think it necessarily has to. As we heard in Adam Price’s contribution, there are a series of alternatives that are already well rehearsed in terms of land value taxation, a sales tax, or a local income tax, as Plaid Cymru’s sister party in Scotland has advocated. What we lack are hard data that would show how those alternatives would actually and practically impact in the Welsh context. The research that I’ve commissioned is about looking at how we would apply those ideas. I think the merits of the ideas are well rehearsed. There’s lots of work already done. What we lack is applied understanding of whether or not they would lead to better outcomes in the Welsh context. If we can do that, then we’ll have a better informed debate about whether a more fundamental shift in the way that we raise money in this way would be right in the future, and I hope we’ll be in that position during this Assembly term.

For now, we are obliged to operate within the system that we have, where we have a valuation office. It’s a statutory body, it is entirely independent from Welsh Government, it carries out revaluations, it reaches those conclusions, the parameters are enshrined in primary legislation, but the revaluation must be revenue neutral. While there are firms, absolutely—I understand, and I have read letters from individuals in this position—who find their bills going up, that can only happen because there are many other businesses in Wales who find their bills going down. Revaluation raises no more money at all. It simply redistributes the burden in a way that is fairer because of revaluation. If we didn’t have revaluation, the system becomes more and more unfair year on year, and that’s a point recognised in the committee’s report.

The VOA published its draft rating list on 30 September, and it did that to give ratepayers a six-month window to check the detail for their property and its associated valuation. Ratepayers can use those six months to notify the VOA of any errors that they believe have been included in that revaluation, and to ask for the VOA to reconsider it. That does happen. Once the new list comes into effect, ratepayers who still dispute their valuation can appeal, first of all to the VOA itself, and then there are rights of appeal right up to the High Court. Approximately 35 per cent of all appeals do go on to result in a change to the rating list.

I agree that the appeals take too long and the system is too cumbersome, and I will bring forward proposals to reform the appeals system here in Wales. But I won’t be doing it in the way that the system has been reformed in England, where I believe the table has been tilted too far against the ratepayer, and too much in favour of the VOA.

Now, because we know that there are patterns of gains and losses, we know that we have to introduce a system to smooth the impact for those who are adversely affected. That’s why we have a £10 million transitional reliefs scheme, and it will provide additional support to more than 7,000 ratepayers in Wales. It will be fully funded by the Welsh Government, unlike the system in England, which simply involves taking money from one set of gainers to try and give it to losers. We will reform our £100 million small business rate relief scheme. I’ll take a number of the points made in the debate this afternoon in that reform, and we’ll consult widely with stakeholders on the design of a permanent scheme where I think we can do better, provide more help to the businesses we want to help, and so see our high streets thrive better in the future.