- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 7 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08765 by Tom Arthur on 10 June 2022, whether ATMs at retailers' premises are now exempted from non-domestic rates and, if so, on what date this exemption came into place; how many ATMs have been affected by this, and whether it has or will issue backdated refunds, similar to England and Wales.
Answer
Answer expected on 7 March 2025
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 7 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment, what the cost would be in 2025-26 of bringing the Higher Property Rate into line with that in England, broken down by industry sector.
Answer
In England, the standard multiplier in 2025-2026 is being uprated to 55.5p, from 54.6p in 2024-2025. In Scotland, the proposed Higher Property Rate for 2025-2026 is 56.8p, increasing from 55.9p in 2024-2025.
Table 1 shows the estimated cost of setting the Higher Property Rate at 55.5p, compared to 56.8p, broken down by property class. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000, and may not sum due to rounding.
Table 1: Estimated cost of setting the higher property rate to 55.5p |
Property class | Estimated cost |
Shops | 9,100,000 |
Public houses and restaurants | 400,000 |
Offices | 6,400,000 |
Hotels | 2,500,000 |
Industrial subjects | 9,300,000 |
Leisure, entertainment, caravans, etc. | 1,100,000 |
Garages and petrol stations | 400,000 |
Cultural | 100,000 |
Sporting subjects | 200,000 |
Education and training | 5,000,000 |
Public service subjects | 2,600,000 |
Communications | 300,000 |
Quarries, mines, etc. | 100,000 |
Petrochemical | 1,500,000 |
Religious | <50,000 |
Health and medical | 1,900,000 |
Other | 1,400,000 |
Care facilities | 100,000 |
Advertising | 100,000 |
Statutory undertaking | 12,400,000 |
All | 54,700,000 |
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27073 by Joe FitzPatrick on 3 May 2024, in light of the minister's comment that the "intention is to agree and publish the framework in advance of Budget 2025-26", whether it has agreed a fiscal framework with local government and, if so, on what date this will be published.
Answer
We have made significant progress on delivering a Fiscal Framework with Local Government. The foundations of the framework are being applied in practice through the simplification and consolidation of the Local Government Settlement, development of clear routes to deliver local revenue streams such as the Visitor Levy and Cruise Ship Levy, and establishing more frequent and meaningful budget engagement. We continue to work with Local Government to progress the Fiscal Framework and intend to publish an update on the framework around the 2025-26 Scottish Budget and Local Government Settlement.
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 31 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assumptions it made on public sector pay when setting the 2024-25 Budget.
Answer
The Scottish Government places the upmost importance on planning accordingly to balance its budget. We originally assumed 3% per cent for pay awards at the time of the Budget, and a 2% +1% phased multi-year approach was confirmed as part of our 2024-25 Pay Policy.
The 3% was based on a range of judgements including affordability and on known funding at the time under the previous UK Government. The UK Government’s Autumn Statement was the worst-case scenario for Scotland and caused further uncertainty about future funding for public services from UK Government.
Stabilising economic conditions were also taken into account with inflation forecast to reduce to 2%. To those who believe we should set out our pay metrics earlier, it is worth remembering the UK Government does not set out its pay policy for the public sector and does not share the workings of the Pay Review bodies with us.
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 15 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the dates on which its Tax Advisory Group (a) has met and (b) is scheduled to meet.
Answer
The Tax Advisory Group (TAG) most recently met on 11 September. Their last meeting for 2024 is scheduled for 6 November.
The minutes and dates for previous TAG meetings are published at https://www.gov.scot/groups/tax-advisory-group/. The minutes from their September meeting will be added once the group has cleared them at their November meeting.
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding possible criminal charges against the former NHS Tayside surgeon, Sam Eljamel.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2024
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the renewables economy in the north east of Scotland, including through the retraining of energy workers and enhancing supply chain development.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2024
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in line with the agreed procedure, whether it will provide the Scottish Fiscal Commission with a public sector pay policy ahead of its Budget for 2025-26.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2024
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full list of all European structural fund projects commenced in the last 10 years that were completed by December 2023, including the notional allocation of structural funds to each project.
Answer
An up-to-date list of European Structural Fund projects, including notional allocations, is available on our website: European Structural and Investment Funds: operations funding - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 17 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for redress Redress Scotland has received since its inception.
Answer
As of 24 June 2024, 3993 applications have been received by Scotland’s Redress Scheme. Of those applications, 2157 have been passed to Redress Scotland for a determination.