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The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the independent assessors, and local authorities are responsible for administering the system and the awarding of the grant schemes. Billing information is held by local authorities, and they provide this to the Scottish Government on a periodical basis for statistical purposes. This information, and property data extracted from the assessors portal, has been used to estimate the number of unique ratepayers. However, it is recognised that there are limitations in the analysis, and that individual property details may have changed since the data was provided or that different local authorities may have different contact details for the same multi-site businesses.

According to data from the valuation roll as at 1 January 2020, we estimate that there are up to 800 unique ratepayers eligible for more than one Retail, Hospitality Leisure Grant (RHL Grant). The average number of qualifying premises per multi-site business is estimated to be 3 with a maximum of 21. The grant scheme is subject to compliance with EU State Aid Rules .

The Scottish Government has received a large volume of correspondence on a range of topics in relation to the package of support for business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The correspondence system does not categorise individual cases in a way which would allow us to distinguish those ‘regarding the payment of support grants on a per-property basis during the COVID-19 outbreak’. In addition, few correspondents write to the Scottish Government on a single issue and it would therefore not be possible to manually categorise them all.

The administration of the scheme, and the awarding of grants, is being managed by local authorities. Queries in relation to the eligibility of additional properties should be raised with them directly.

The number of applications to the COVID-19 Business Support Fund which have been received in each local authority area is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ . We understand councils are dealing with a large volume of invalid applications, which for example omit vital information such as bank details or addresses. As such, councils cannot robustly report the number of outstanding applications at this stage.

The number of COVID-19 Business Support Fund grants which have been paid, and their value, by local authority area, is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ .

As part of the final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 16 March 2020, we carried out an analysis of the potential for DRS to affect consumer choice. The BRIA can be viewed here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-full-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-2/ . It concludes that any shift towards larger containers is likely to be small.

The final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published alongside the final DRS Regulations, sets out the strong economic case for proceeding with DRS. We do not intend to review the BRIA at this stage of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, we will continue to monitor closely the impact of COVID-19 on industry’s ability to progress the steps that are needed to bring the scheme into operation.

We recognise the significant pressures COVID-19 is placing on industry, including the businesses which will be responsible for implementing Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). We will continue to monitor closely the impact of COVID-19 on industry’s ability to progress the steps that are needed to bring the scheme into operation.

The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government wrote to local authorities on 20th March committing additional resources of £50 million for a Hardship Fund with no restrictions. Local authorities have flexibility in how they use the funding as part of their overall response to COVID-19, including any additional costs they incur in administering the Business Support Grant fund.

The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for independent assessors and Ministers have no locus to intervene in that process.

In the 2020-21 budget, we maintained a number of measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions and supporting the renewables sector. This includes the renewable energy relief which is available to subjects that are used for the purpose of the generation of renewable heat or power where the scheme provides community organisations with at least 15% of their annual profit, or annual profits as is attributable to at least 500 kW of the total installed capacity of the project.

This renewable energy relief applies equally to all different types of renewables subjects, and relief is available to schemes based on a sliding scale presented in the following table:

The Scottish Government is committed to a fair and sustainable non-domestic rates system and we already offer a renewable exemption, as well as a number of reliefs for low carbon and renewables schemes. This includes the renewable energy relief which is available to subjects that are used for the purpose of the generation of renewable heat or power where the scheme provides community organisations with at least 15% of their annual profit, or annual profits as is attributable to at least 500 kW of the total installed capacity of the project. In addition, we provide the most generous relief for small-scale hydro schemes anywhere in the UK.