The Independent Review of the Valuation of Licensed Hospitality has issued a call for evidence to help inform its considerations. The call for evidence invites respondents to provide information and research on the valuation methodology for the licensed hospitality sector for the purposes of non-domestic rates. 

The success of the Independent Review will depend entirely on the quality of the evidence that it is able to consider, especially reliable evidence of market rental transactions for licensed hospitality properties. The Review implores all stakeholders to engage with this call for evidence and to provide all relevant material that they hold.

The Chair of the Review has put in place procedures to ensure the protection of any confidential material that it receives.

The Scottish Government, as Secretariat for the Independent Review, is issuing the call for evidence on behalf of the Independent Review. Responses should be sent directly to the Chair of the Independent Review at bjgill@amadvocates.co.uk or BJ Gill KC, Advocates Library, Parliament House, Edinburgh EH1 1RF.

The consultation can be found here: Background - Licensed hospitality valuation methodology: Gill review - call for evidence - gov.scot

The consultation closes at 5pm on 20 April 2026.

The IRRV's response can be found here: IRRV_Response_Gill_Review_2026.pdf

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plan to change the scheduling and alignment and reduce the frequency of some of their routine administrative-based benefit Official Statistics, including Universal Credit (UC). 

They would like your input as users on proposals 1 to 5 below. 

Proposal 1 

Reduce the frequency of Universal Credit statistics from monthly to quarterly and improve alignment of key metrics.   

Proposal 2

Align the timing of DWP Benefit Statistics (including Benefit Combinations) to financial years, with a move to an annual compendium release in Autumn.  

Proposal 3

Reduce the frequency of Housing Benefit Speed of Processing statistics to annual rather than quarterly.  

Proposal 4

Reduce the frequency of Housing Benefit Debt recovery statistics to annual, aligned to financial years, rather than biannual.  

Proposal 5

Reduce the frequency of the National Insurance Numbers Allocated to non-UK overseas nationals statistics to annual, aligned to financial years, rather than quarterly.

This consultation will run until 31 March 2026 for proposal 1 and to 12 May 2026 for proposals 2 to 5. 

The consultation can be found here: DWP administrative-based benefit statistics: proposed changes to scheduling and frequency of releases - GOV.UK

The IRRV's response can be found here: IRRV_Response_DWP_benefit_statistics_proposed_changes_2026.pdf

This Call for Evidence is aimed at organisations and individuals who have information that is relevant to the Review. This Call for Evidence is being administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on behalf of the Timms Review steering group. The Timms Review is committed to engaging with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, carers, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. The purpose is to gather evidence from all interested parties to inform the Review.

The Review welcomes evidence and insight from individuals and organisations with lived or learned experience, knowledge and expertise. Evidence can take many forms and could include written submissions, existing data or unpublished analysis or reports.

This Call for Evidence will be part of a wider programme of engagement with stakeholders which will be determined by the steering group. This Call for Evidence is open from 19 March 2026 and will close at 11:59pm on 28 May 2026. All evidence submitted will be made available to the steering group. In addition, DWP will create a summary response to support the steering group in consolidating the evidence received.

The consultation can be found here: Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: Call for Evidence - GOV.UK

Consultation paper seeking views on what should be included in regulations governing how Social Security Scotland uses new audit powers to estimate the rate and monetary value of fraud and error.

Scottish Ministers and Accountable Officers have a legal duty under sections 14 and 15 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000[1] to ensure payments are made correctly and deliver value for money.

Audit Scotland’s 2021-22 annual report[2] highlighted the need for Social Security Scotland to understand the levels of fraud and error within its caseload in line with other government departments delivering similar services. This activity would support the Scottish Government’s commitment to protect public resources, help identify any weaknesses in benefit processing, and improve systems and training. It would also help to identify and address the root causes of underpayments and overpayments, reducing administrative costs, ensuring better value for money and overall efficiency.

In response to this recommendation, Social Security Scotland reviewed the estimation methodologies used by DWP, the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, and international approaches, developing options based on best practice and legislative requirements. The methodology chosen involves a regular programme of sampling, review, and analysis of selected cases within the wider benefit caseload to ensure accuracy.

As the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”) did not contain powers to request information directly from individuals selected for review, amendments were needed. Section 18 of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025 (“Information for Audit”) amends the 2018 Act to create new powers for Scottish Ministers to require individuals to provide information in order to audit the social security system as a whole.

This consultation seeks views on the regulations required to operationalise section 87B-E of the 2018 Act - exemptions, safeguards, and the processes that will apply when a case is selected for review. The aim of the proposals are to produce timely, statistically sound, repeatable measures of fraud and error to underpin assurance without placing unnecessary or unfair burdens on clients.

The consultation can be found here: Estimating fraud and error in the Scottish social security system: Consultation - gov.scot

The consultation closes on 10 June 2026.