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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6T-00876

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote participation in Scotland’s Climate Week 2022, which runs from 26 September to 2 October.

Question reference: S6W-10712

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it plans to do with the £5 million that it previously committed to the Islands Bond scheme, and whether it will be spent on measures that aim to tackle the depopulation of islands.

The £300,000 allocated to the Islands Bond this financial year will now be used to shape a range of tests to help inform policy in an islands context, based on the feedback gathered through our engagement on the Islands Bond since October 2021, (including meeting over 100 island residents across 12 island communities in spring 2022).

These Practical Policy Tests (PPTs) will help to inform the development of our action plan to address depopulation as set out in our 2019 National Islands Plan, and also help to inform our future funding requirements so that we can tackle the depopulation challenges across our islands.

This work complements the £8.3 million provided to implement the National Islands Plan in the current financial year. This continues our record of delivering significant investment in key island-based projects, such as our £1.3 million contribution towards the rebuild of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, and the £550K transformational Kerrera Road project.

Annual budgets will continue to be set through the annual parliamentary budget Bill process and the annual budget will be based on the latest fiscal information.

Question reference: S6W-10699

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates will be raised from the higher property rate in 2022-23, broken down by business sector.

Table 1 presents the gross estimated income from the higher property rate, by property class.

The figures presented are gross amounts and do not take account of reductions in liability due to reliefs awarded in 2022-23. This is due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief in 2022-23 which means that it is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the breakdown of net figures by property class.

Figures in Table 1 are broken down by property class as 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 may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

Table 1: Estimated gross HPR income, by property class in 2022-23

Property Class	Gross HPR income (£)
Shops	23,480,000
Public Houses	819,000
Offices	14,211,000
Hotels	5,197,000
Industrial Subjects	18,678,000
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	3,912,000
Garages and Petrol Stations	749,000
Cultural	883,000
Sporting Subjects	238,000
Education and Training	12,372,000
Public Service Subjects	5,762,000
Communications	502,000
Quarries, Mines, etc.	203,000
Petrochemical	2,791,000
Religious	110,000
Health and Medical	4,556,000
Other	2,259,000
Care Facilities	1,374,000
Advertising	74,000
Statutory Undertaking	23,847,000
All	122,017,000

Source: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 July 2022.

Figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Question reference: S6W-10664

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times rates relief has been (a) applied for and (b) awarded under the Non-Domestic Rates (Reverse Vending Machine Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 in (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23 to date, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-10700

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) higher property rate and (b) large business rates supplement have been in each of the last 15 years, broken down by how much tax revenue this generated.

Table 1 shows the estimated net income from the large business supplement in 2019-20. Figures for 2019-20 and earlier are available in the answer to S5W-25592, available at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S5W-25592 . Table 1 updates the previously given figure for 2019-20 with more recent data, which was not available at the time of the original answer.

Table 2 shows the estimated gross and net income from the higher property rate since 2020-21. It is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the net income in 2022-23, due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief, therefore only the gross figure is given.

Table 1: Net income from the large business supplement

Year	2019-20
Estimated net income from the large business supplement	125,878,000
Large business supplement (pence)	2.6
Large business supplement threshold	51,000
Income figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Data: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll, local authority billing information.

Table 2: Gross and net income from the higher property rate

Year	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Estimated net income from the higher property rate	80,648,000	93,250,000	[not available]
Estimated gross income from the higher property rate	123,260,000	121,745,000	122,017,000
Higher property rate (in pence, in addition to the poundage)	2.6	2.6	2.6
Threshold for the higher property rate	95,000	95,000	95,000
Income figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Data: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll, local authority billing information.

Question reference: S6W-10732

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how the scale of landholdings affects the ability of land managers to effectively manage deer populations in connection with its consultation, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation.

Deer management is currently carried out across land holdings of varying size from 10Ha to over 10,000Ha. The extent of the deer management and any required collaboration is more dependent on the species and land type rather than any minimum size. For ‘territorial’ species such as roe deer the scale of management will often be at the individual farm unit; whereas for open hill red deer, that range across multiple large properties, the management scale expands to Deer Management Groups that cover many thousands of hectares.

The Code of Practice on Deer Management prescribes to everybody who owns or manages wild deer on someone else’s land (irrespective of the size of that land holding), how they should deliver sustainable deer management. A review of compliance with the Deer Code published 2019 concluded that where it was relevant to them, a majority of owner-occupiers, across varying land holdings, had undertaken actions to meet each of the themes outlined in the Deer Code. NatureScot, in their role as Scotland’s deer authority, work with a range of partners, including the Association of Deer Management Groups, local deer management groups and individual land managers to develop effective planning and deliver deer management across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10859

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the consequences are for passengers who consume alcohol and breach the ban on ScotRail trains.

Question reference: S6W-10819

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce emergency legislation to address the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government recognises the huge pressures the cost of living crisis is placing on households, particularly on those who rent their home. That is why we have committed to protecting tenants by freezing rents and imposing a moratorium on evictions – at least until 31 March. Our intention is also to take action to prevent immediate rent increases.

We are working at pace to agree expedited processes to deliver any legislation necessary to achieve this with the Scottish Parliament and the UK Government, to ensure these crucial changes are brought about as soon as possible. We will engage with stakeholders and others, as we develop the emergency Bill.

We are taking urgent action to protect tenants in Scotland, well ahead of rest of UK. Our PfG announcements for emergency legislation, is part of our ambitious reform programme for the New Deal for Tenants.

The amendment put forward by Labour back in June was not workable and would have been at much higher risk of legal challenge. We have taken the time needed to ensure that the legislation we bring forward to freeze rents and introduce a moratorium on eviction is legally robust and will ensure tenants are protected.

Our emergency legislation must, by definition, be temporary. But given the huge uncertainty as to what the next 6 months holds, we intend to review very carefully whether and how any measures might be extended; and how what we do now paves the way for longer term reform – which we have already committed to.

A Housing Bill in the year ahead will give new and strengthened rights to tenants, improve affordability, and deliver key policies relating to short term lets and the prevention of homelessness.

Meanwhile, in Wales, the one part of the UK where Labour could actually act as the Scottish Government is acting, we see very little sign of the ambition we have outlined this week or indeed of the ambition to reform renting as we have in Scotland over the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-10834

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to consult on proposals to ban the extraction and sale of peat in Scotland, and, if this is the case, when it expects to launch a consultation.

In our 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government pledged to take forward work to develop and consult on a ban on the sale of peat-related gardening products as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture. We are working with industry to understand exactly where transitional issues lie so that we can remove peat from horticulture. We will soon launch our consultation, which will inform ambitious timescales for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture.

Question reference: S6W-10702

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities are (a) using and (b) seeking to use their powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to reduce business rates in 2022-23.

The administration of the non-domestic rates system, including the award of reliefs, is a matter for local authorities. In the Non-domestic rates income - provisional contributable amount returns, provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government at the start of 2022-23, no local authority indicated that they expect to award rates reliefs under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 in 2022-23.