7. What measures are in place to prevent avoidance of extra council tax on second homes? OAQ54350

The measures to which the Member refers are set out in the revised and strengthened non-domestic rating Order, passed by this Assembly in 2016. Responsibility for the effective operation of these procedures lies with local authorities and the Valuation Office Agency.

First Minister, while listening to the radio last week, I was struck by an advert I heard on a commercial station that began by informing people of how they could create an extra income out of their second homes and ended by saying, 'Take action now in order to avoid the extra council tax on second homes.' Will the First Minister agree with me that it is morally repugnant for companies or businesses to be offering this kind of advice? It is something that creates a situation where tax can be avoided and it encourages people to buy second homes in order to rent them out to holidaymakers, thus, of course, creating a situation where young people particularly can't afford to live in their own rural communities. Does the First Minister share my abhorrence of the message that that advert gave and will he condemn any attempts to try to get around the law?

Well, I certainly do that and do it as strongly as the Member just has. Tax avoidance is morally repugnant. Tax evasion is straightforwardly criminal and against the law. I didn't hear the advert myself, but I would have to warn anybody listening to it that if they think they are going to enter into a contrived arrangement in order to evade the council tax, then they will find themselves in receipt of very large accumulated bills when that is found out. And if any firm were to offer advice to somebody with the express intention of contriving an arrangement in which the law of the land can be avoided, then they would be, I believe, vulnerable to criminal prosecution for fraud. There is a very clear and legal set of requirements. If you are to let your house as accommodation that is self-catering, you have to make that property available for 140 days in any year, and it has to be let for 70 of those 140 days as a minimum. Those are legal requirements. They are set out in that way in the Valuation Office Agency's forms that people have to fill in, and there is a dedicated team here in the VOA in Wales that validates the evidence that's produced about self-catering premises and carries out regular spot checks to make sure that the law is being observed.

Anybody who thinks that the law is a soft touch in this area and that you can evade it or avoid it easily will rapidly come unstuck. [Interruption.] Every single—. I'll just say, every single example that local authorities in Wales have provided to the VOA have been investigated by the valuation agency. And I invite local authorities—as I know my colleagues did yesterday, in a meeting with them—I absolutely invite local authorities to provide that evidence. If there is genuine evidence of the law not being properly applied, and the dedicated team that the VOA have to make sure that it is, then, of course, we will take action. But we can only take action if the evidence itself is supplied, and only local authorities are in the right position to do that. Please make sure that, if they have the evidence, they send it in.

And finally, question 8—Rhun ap Iorwerth.