Chamber and committees

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: S3W-36247

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the rateable value was of properties subject to non-domestic rates in each local authority area on 1 April 2009

The total rateable value of all non-domestic properties, by local authority, as at 1 April 2009 is as follows.

	Total Rateable Value (£)
Aberdeen City	338,017,485
Aberdeenshire	148,721,269
Angus	62,629,990
Argyll and Bute	69,440,478
Clackmannanshire	31,528,609
Dumfries and Galloway	95,115,433
Dundee City	167,677,602
East Ayrshire	69,075,385
East Dunbartonshire	53,658,753
East Lothian	50,086,207
East Renfrewshire	33,267,603
Edinburgh, City of	775,278,710
Eilean Siar	16,494,864
Falkirk	141,528,984
Fife	314,767,905
Glasgow City	821,710,457
Highland	228,909,335
Inverclyde	52,971,056
Midlothian	58,314,680
Moray	62,857,408
North Ayrshire	88,844,308
North Lanarkshire	259,614,495
Orkney Islands	18,272,775
Perth and Kinross	120,563,814
Renfrewshire	192,845,073
Scottish Borders	65,227,428
Shetland Islands	32,033,922
South Ayrshire	94,986,302
South Lanarkshire	428,358,628
Stirling	96,001,790
West Dunbartonshire	137,548,587
West Lothian	172,598,285

Question reference: S3W-36254

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what change there was in the non-domestic rates income of each local authority from 1 April 2010

The following table shows the change in business rates income distributed between 2009-10 and 2010-11 broken down by local authority.

The figures for 2010-11 use the latest forecast of net income from non-domestic rates in 2010-11 and also draw on council estimates of the amounts they will contribute to the pool from non-domestic rates in 2009-10. Included in the estimated figures are a calculation of gross income, expected losses from appeals and estimated expenditure on mandatory and other reliefs as well as write-offs and provision of bad debt.

The actual income distributed to councils also takes into account prior year adjustments for under and over-payments to the non-domestic rate pool as result of councils collecting more or less non-domestic rates than estimated.

Business Rate Income Distributed 2009-11

	2009-10	2010-11	Change from 2009-10 to 2010-11
Local Authority	£ Million	£ Million	£ Million
Aberdeen City	88.1	84.2	-3.9
Aberdeenshire	100.7	96.6	-4.1
Angus	46.2	44.1	-2.1
Argyll & Bute	38.4	36.2	-2.2
Clackmannanshire	21	20.2	-0.8
Dumfries and Galloway	62.4	59.5	-2.9
Dundee City	59.8	57.0	-2.8
East Ayrshire	50.3	48.0	-2.3
East Dunbartonshire	44.1	41.9	-2.2
East Lothian	39.7	38.5	-1.2
East Renfrewshire	37.6	35.7	-1.9
Edinburgh, City of	197	188.7	-8.3
Eilean Siar	11.1	10.5	-0.6
Falkirk	63.4	60.7	-2.7
Fife	151.7	144.8	-6.9
Glasgow City	244.9	233.8	-11.1
Highland	91.5	87.8	-3.7
Inverclyde	34.1	32.3	-1.8
Midlothian	33.5	32.2	-1.3
Moray	36.6	35.1	-1.5
North Ayrshire	57.1	54.3	-2.8
North Lanarkshire	136.7	130.3	-6.4
Orkney	8.4	8.0	-0.4
Perth and Kinross	59.8	57.7	-2.1
Renfrewshire	71.4	68.0	-3.4
Scottish Borders	46.9	45.0	-1.9
Shetland	9.2	8.8	-0.4
South Ayrshire	47	44.7	-2.3
South Lanarkshire	130.3	124.1	-6.2
Stirling	37.1	35.4	-1.7
West Dunbartonshire	38.3	36.4	-1.9
West Lothian	70.6	67.8	-2.8

Note: The figures above are taken or calculated from relevant annual local government finance circulars issued by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S3W-36256

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what its income was from non-domestic rates in each local authority in 2009-10

The following table shows the amount of business rates collected by each local authority in 2009-10.

The Scottish Government guarantees each local authority a combination of distributable business rates plus general revenue grant, with the total amount calculated on the basis of assessed need in each local authority area. The actual amount of business rates collected by each local authority is then deducted from this guaranteed funding with the balance paid as general revenue grant. The amount of business rates collected locally therefore has no effect on the total guaranteed funding.

Business Rates Collected by Local Authority 2009-10

Local Authority	2009-10¹ £ Million
Aberdeen City	140.1
Aberdeenshire	57.8
Angus	21.7
Argyll and Bute	25.2
Clackmannanshire	10.8
Dumfries and Galloway	35.9
Dundee City	59.9
East Ayrshire	25.2
East Dunbartonshire	19.8
East Lothian	18.0
East Renfrewshire	11.9
Edinburgh, City of	291.9
Eilean Siar	5.5
Falkirk	55.6
Fife	120.6
Glasgow City	301.6
Highland	82.8
Inverclyde	18.5
Midlothian	21.2
Moray	24.7
North Ayrshire	30.6
North Lanarkshire	98.0
Orkney	6.8
Perth and Kinross	44.6
Renfrewshire	75.0
Scottish Borders	22.9
Shetland	12.2
South Ayrshire	33.6
South Lanarkshire	176.8
Stirling	36.4
West Dunbartonshire	59.6
West Lothian	68.8

Note: 1. The figures are provisional notified amounts; the latest available returns for 2009-10 made to the Scottish Government by local authorities.

Question reference: S3W-36250

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total non-domestic rates payable were in each local authority area as of 1 April 2009

Question reference: S3W-36248

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what net increase there has been in non-domestic rateable values in each local authority area as a result of rates revaluation from 1 April 2010

Question reference: S3W-36119

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-35879 by John Swinney on 6 September 2010, how many businesses in each local authority area have had (a) a decrease and (b) no change in their business rate as a result of rates revaluation from 1 April 2010.

A full breakdown of bill changes following the 2010 revaluation by local authority area, including the number of ratepayers who saw their bills decrease and those whose bills did not change, is shown in the following table. The figures given are before the impact of reliefs or appeals, both of which will significantly increase the number of properties who will see their bills decrease.

Local Authority	Ratepayers with Bill Decrease		Ratepayers with no Change to Bill		Ratepayers with Bill Increase - up to 12.5%		Ratepayers with Bill Increase - over 12.5%
Local Authority	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Aberdeen City	3,428	41.6	677	8.2	2,203	26.7	1,934	23.5
Aberdeenshire	2,224	20.6	2,920	27.1	1,789	16.6	3,848	35.7
Angus	2,009	41.9	1,063	22.2	1,034	21.6	691	14.4
Argyll and Bute	2,726	36.0	1,376	18.2	1,624	21.4	1,846	24.4
Clackmannanshire	751	48.8	204	13.3	264	17.2	319	20.7
Dumfries and Galloway	3,228	36.5	2,211	25.0	1,602	18.1	1,813	20.5
Dundee City	3,072	54.4	622	11.0	1,281	22.7	675	11.9
East Ayrshire	2,334	62.0	576	15.3	466	12.4	387	10.3
East Dunbartonshire	1,450	64.5	186	8.3	357	15.9	256	11.4
East Lothian	961	29.7	592	18.3	781	24.2	899	27.8
East Renfrewshire	1,007	61.6	199	12.2	215	13.2	213	13.0
Edinburgh, City of	8,034	42.9	1,682	9.0	4,963	26.5	4,070	21.7
Eilean Siar	453	21.3	541	25.4	647	30.4	488	22.9
Falkirk	2,601	55.2	614	13.0	851	18.1	645	13.7
Fife	5,741	45.3	2,052	16.2	2,286	18.0	2,602	20.5
Glasgow City	12,168	49.0	2,526	10.2	5,580	22.5	4,570	18.4
Highland	4,762	28.7	2,986	18.0	4,048	24.4	4,819	29.0
Inverclyde	1,451	63.7	255	11.2	227	10.0	346	15.2
Midlothian	1,001	36.9	401	14.8	602	22.2	711	26.2
Moray	760	17.2	1,061	24.1	971	22.0	1,617	36.7
North Ayrshire	2,601	53.9	644	13.3	700	14.5	884	18.3
North Lanarkshire	5,590	62.4	948	10.6	1,172	13.1	1,249	13.9
Orkney Islands	275	14.0	446	22.7	434	22.1	812	41.3
Perth and Kinross	3,785	47.0	1,733	21.5	1,155	14.3	1,383	17.2
Renfrewshire	3,903	65.0	650	10.8	698	11.6	755	12.6
Scottish Borders	1,700	24.6	1,507	21.8	1,237	17.9	2,465	35.7
Shetland Islands	556	29.4	507	26.8	361	19.1	470	24.8
South Ayrshire	2,755	60.7	570	12.6	606	13.3	609	13.4
South Lanarkshire	5,570	59.6	1,053	11.3	1,317	14.1	1,412	15.1
Stirling	2,484	51.4	714	14.8	760	15.7	873	18.1
West Dunbartonshire	1,876	69.7	203	7.5	272	10.1	340	12.6
West Lothian	2,715	50.6	637	11.9	956	17.8	1,055	19.7
Total	93,971	44.2	32,356	15.2	41,459	19.5	45,056	21.2

Question reference: S3W-36367

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Justice will next meet the Scottish Police Services Authority board and what issues will be discussed.

Question reference: S3W-36370

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what instructions were given to the Scottish Police Services Authority in relation to its not making public its recommendation regarding its forensic services modernisation plans.

Question reference: S3W-36372

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive on what authority the board of the Scottish Police Services Authority decided not to make public its recommendations on the forensic services modernisation plans.

Question reference: S3W-36369

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has had with the Scottish Police Services Authority board regarding its forensic services modernisation plans.