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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: S6F-01395

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government will make available to the reported 372 members of staff affected by the Arjowigiins papermill at Stoneywood in Aberdeen entering administration.

Question reference: S6O-01382

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact will be on its Covid Recovery Strategy of the reduction to the Covid Recovery budget announced on 7 September as part of the emergency budget review.

Question reference: S6O-01328

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what further support it will provide to local authorities for the provision of accommodation for refugees in Scotland, in light of reports that suitable housing has been significantly reduced as a result of its Super Sponsor scheme.

Question reference: S6W-09846

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much businesses in (a) Aberdeen City and (b) Aberdeenshire have saved on non-domestic rates as a result of transitional relief in each year since 2015.

The values of non-domestic rates reliefs, broken down by local authority and relief, are available in Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics, at https://www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-statistics/#scottishlocalgovernmentfinancialstatistics . The figures can be found in the respective annual publications, in Table 1.16a for 2017-18, and table 2.17a for 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21. Transitional relief was introduced in the Non-Domestic Rates (Transitional Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 and was therefore not available in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Question reference: S6W-09848

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of non-domestic rates receipts for each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

The non-domestic rates income figures for each year, broken down by local authority, are available in Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics, at https://www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-statistics/#scottishlocalgovernmentfinancialstatistics . The figures can be found in the respective annual publications, in Table 1.15 for 2016-17 and 2017-18, Table 1.14a for 2018-19 and 2019-20, and Table 2.14 for 2020-21.

Question reference: S6W-09843

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has estimated how many retail, hospitality and leisure premises are entitled to 50% relief on non-domestic rates for the first three months of 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-09847

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many premises in (a) Aberdeen City and (b) Aberdeenshire currently receive relief through the Small Business Bonus scheme and, of those, how many are receiving the 100% relief rate.

Question reference: S6W-09850

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding for non-domestic rates relief it has (a) budgeted and (b) allocated to date, in 2022/23.

Decisions on non-domestic rates reliefs are taken as part of the budget process, using Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts of the total revenues raised net of relief costs. At the 2022-23 Scottish Budget in December 2021, the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast that the reliefs package would save businesses £802 million. A breakdown of this figure is available in Figure S4.10, at https://www.fiscalcommission.scot/publications/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts-december-2021/ .

It is for local authorities to administer non-domestic rates reliefs in accordance with the relevant legislation. Data on non-domestic rates income, including the values of reliefs, is released periodically at https://www.gov.scot/publications/non-domestic-rates-income-statistics/ .
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Question reference: S6W-09844

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many premises currently receive Business Growth Accelerator relief on non-domestic rates.

Question reference: S6W-09845

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on publicity and marketing for Business Growth Accelerator relief on non-domestic rates since it was introduced.

The Scottish Government does not hold a discrete budget line for raising awareness of Non-Domestic Rates reliefs. Information on all non-domestic rates reliefs, including the Business Growth Accelerator, is available on the mygov.scotwebsite , and other websites including those of individual local authorities who similarly promote information on reliefs and how to apply for them. Since 2020-21, following recommendation 14 of the Barclay Review of Non-Domestic rates, all councils have adopted a standardised bill template which includes, amongst other things, direction to ratepayers on how to find information on the range of reliefs available.

Officials also regularly share information, including on any new or expanded reliefs, with a range of stakeholders, including business representative groups at the Scottish Ratepayers Forum and with NDR practitioners at Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation forums.