Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-24115

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 18 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it decided not to provide business rates relief for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in 2024-25, in light of this being provided in Wales and England.

While Scottish Ministers are sympathetic to calls to replicate the non-domestic rates relief available to businesses in England in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, doing so would have meant that the Scottish Government could not provide the NHS, local government, schools, or emergency services with the funding they require.

The Scottish Government will continue to do all it can to support businesses. In 2024-25, the Basic Property Rate will be frozen, which, combined with an inflationary increase in the Intermediate Property Rate, will deliver the lowest poundage for properties with a rateable value up to and including £100,000 in the UK for the sixth year in a row. The Budget also announced a package of reliefs in 2024-25 worth an estimated £685 million . The Small Business Bonus Scheme which offers up to 100% relief from non-domestic rates will be maintained and a new 100% rates relief will be available in 2024-25 for hospitality businesses in island communities, capped at £110,000 per ratepayer.

Question reference: S6O-03012

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of new homes started in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-24116

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties in 2024-25 will be subject to the intermediate property rate, broken down by (a) industry sector and (b) local authority area.

The number of properties expected to be liable for the Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) in 2024-2025 before any reliefs are applied is presented in the below tables, broken down in Table 1 by property class, and in Table 2 by council area. 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. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors.

These tables are based on the non-domestic valuation roll as at 1 October 2023.

Figures in these tables are rounded to the nearest 10.

Table 1: Number of properties liable for IPR in 2024-2025 by property class

Property class	Properties with a gross HPR liability
Shops	2,140
Public Houses	420
Offices	1,770
Hotels	390
Industrial Subjects	2,420
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	480
Garages and Petrol Stations	190
Cultural	90
Sporting Subjects	50
Education and Training	720
Public Service Subjects	490
Communications	40
Quarries, Mines, etc.	50
Petrochemical	10
Religious	90
Health and Medical	260
Other	170
Care Facilities	510
Advertising	20
Statutory Undertaking	160
All	10,450

Table 2: Number of properties liable for IPR in 2024-2025 by council area

Local authority	Properties with a gross HPR liability
Aberdeen City	840
Aberdeenshire	470
Angus	120
Argyll & Bute	150
Clackmannanshire	60
Dumfries & Galloway	220
Dundee City	320
East Ayrshire	150
East Dunbartonshire	110
East Lothian	130
East Renfrewshire	60
City of Edinburgh	1,520
Na h-Eileanan Siar	50
Falkirk	200
Fife	550
Glasgow City	1,670
Highland	590
Inverclyde	80
Midlothian	170
Moray	150
North Ayrshire	160
North Lanarkshire	510
Orkney Islands	40
Perth & Kinross	270
Renfrewshire	320
Scottish Borders	180
Shetland Islands	60
South Ayrshire	170
South Lanarkshire	430
Stirling	200
West Dunbartonshire	120
West Lothian	390
Scotland	10,450

Question reference: S6W-24113

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties will be subject to the higher property rate poundage in 2024-25, broken down by (a) industry sector and (b) local authority area.

The number of properties expected to be liable for the Higher Property Rate (HPR) in 2024-2025 before any reliefs are applied is presented in the below tables, broken down in Table 1 by property class, and in Table 2 by council area. 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. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors.

These tables are based on the non-domestic valuation roll as at 1 October 2023.

Figures in these tables are rounded to the nearest 10.

Table 1: Number of properties liable for HPR in 2024-2025 by property class

Property class	Properties with a gross HPR liability
Shops	2,410
Public Houses	190
Offices	1,770
Hotels	590
Industrial Subjects	2,500
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	560
Garages and Petrol Stations	160
Cultural	90
Sporting Subjects	30
Education and Training	1,390
Public Service Subjects	510
Communications	90
Quarries, Mines, etc.	40
Petrochemical	70
Religious	40
Health and Medical	280
Other	240
Care Facilities	350
Advertising	20
Statutory Undertaking	380
All	11,670

Table 2: Number of properties liable for HPR in 2024-2025 by council area

Local authority	Properties with a gross HPR liability
Aberdeen City	1,010
Aberdeenshire	520
Angus	140
Argyll & Bute	160
Clackmannanshire	50
Dumfries & Galloway	200
Dundee City	360
East Ayrshire	150
East Dunbartonshire	120
East Lothian	140
East Renfrewshire	70
City of Edinburgh	1,750
Na h-Eileanan Siar	50
Falkirk	290
Fife	510
Glasgow City	1,850
Highland	620
Inverclyde	100
Midlothian	180
Moray	200
North Ayrshire	170
North Lanarkshire	580
Orkney Islands	30
Perth & Kinross	280
Renfrewshire	370
Scottish Borders	170
Shetland Islands	60
South Ayrshire	210
South Lanarkshire	550
Stirling	210
West Dunbartonshire	140
West Lothian	430
Scotland	11,670

Question reference: S6W-24114

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 29 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it anticipates will be raised from the higher property rate in 2024-25, broken down by industry and business sector.

Table 1 presents the total expected gross income from properties liable for the Higher Property Rate (HPR) at 55.9p, after the application of the General Revaluation Transitional Relief (TR), in 2024-2025. This reflects the total gross bill for properties with a rateable value above £100,000. This is 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 does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the non-domestic valuation roll as at 1 October 2023.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Estimated gross income (£) from HPR after revaluation transitional relief in 2024-2025 by property class

Property class	Gross HPR income after TR (at 55.9p)
Shops	417,100,000
Public Houses	17,600,000
Offices	309,800,000
Hotels	111,200,000
Industrial Subjects	424,300,000
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	95,400,000
Garages and Petrol Stations	17,400,000
Cultural	19,200,000
Sporting Subjects	7,700,000
Education and Training	295,400,000
Public Service Subjects	128,900,000
Communications	14,200,000
Quarries, Mines, etc.	5,200,000
Petrochemical	73,600,000
Religious	3,300,000
Health and Medical	100,600,000
Other	52,300,000
Care Facilities	32,500,000
Advertising	2,400,000
Statutory Undertaking	578,300,000
All	2,706,400,000

Question reference: S6W-24117

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 29 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates will be raised by the intermediate property rate in (a) 2024-25, and (b) in each year since its introduction, broken down by industry sector.

The Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) was introduced from 1 April 2020. The IPR applied to properties with a rateable value above £51,000, up to £95,000 until 31 March 2023, and to properties with a rateable value above £51,000 and up to £100,000 from 1 April 2023. In 2020-2021 and 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 the IPR was charged at 51.1p, in 2021-2022 this was 50.3p, and in 2024-2025 it will increase in line with inflation to 54.5p.

Table 1 shows the total estimated gross income since 2020-2021. This is the total gross bill (net of General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025) charged to properties with a rateable value between £51,001 and £95,000 up to 2022-2023, and between £51,001 and £100,000 from 2023-2024 onwards, as noted above. These figures are broken down by property class; 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. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors.

Figures are based on the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 October in each financial year, for 2024-2025 this is based on the Valuation Roll of 1 October 2023. Figures are gross of all reliefs, except for the General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Estimated gross IPR income (£) since 2020-2021 (after General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025)

Property class	2020-2021 (at 51.1p)	2021-2022 (at 50.3p)	2022-2023 (at 51.1p)	2023-2024 (at 51.1p)	2024-2025 (at 54.5p)
Shops	73,900,000	73,500,000	76,000,000	76,900,000	81,500,000
Public houses	14,000,000	13,700,000	14,100,000	14,400,000	15,500,000
Offices	58,500,000	57,400,000	59,100,000	62,700,000	66,900,000
Hotels	12,300,000	12,100,000	12,300,000	13,400,000	14,600,000
Industrial subjects	71,000,000	69,600,000	71,800,000	85,800,000	92,000,000
Leisure, entertainment, caravans etc.	13,900,000	13,800,000	14,300,000	16,500,000	17,900,000
Garages and petrol stations	5,600,000	5,400,000	5,200,000	6,500,000	7,100,000
Cultural	2,600,000	2,300,000	2,500,000	2,800,000	3,000,000
Sporting subjects	600,000	500,000	600,000	1,500,000	1,600,000
Education and training	26,300,000	25,400,000	25,700,000	27,300,000	29,100,000
Public service subjects	17,000,000	16,000,000	16,200,000	17,600,000	18,700,000
Communications	900,000	1,100,000	800,000	1,300,000	1,400,000
Quarries, mines, etc.	1,500,000	1,200,000	1,100,000	1,600,000	1,800,000
Petrochemical	300,000	300,000	300,000	400,000	400,000
Religious	2,400,000	2,400,000	2,600,000	3,000,000	3,200,000
Health and medical	8,200,000	7,900,000	8,100,000	9,400,000	10,000,000
Other	5,800,000	6,200,000	6,200,000	6,000,000	6,500,000
Care facilities	16,700,000	16,600,000	16,900,000	18,500,000	19,500,000
Advertising	400,000	500,000	500,000	500,000	500,000
Statutory undertaking	4,300,000	4,300,000	4,500,000	5,200,000	5,700,000
All properties	336,100,000	330,100,000	338,700,000	371,300,000	396,900,000

Question reference: S6O-02921

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with Scottish Mountain Rescue teams regarding mountain safety this winter.

Question reference: S6F-02642

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2023

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will commit to any reform of Scotland’s planning regulations in order to generate growth, as recommended by CBI Scotland in a statement on 7 December.

Question reference: S6O-02822

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is in relation to employment-based routes to teacher training.

Question reference: S6W-22296

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what employment-based routes are available to students who wish to enter the teaching profession.

The Scottish Government supports the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) to offer a part-time PGDE Primary programme. UHI plan to extend this to their PGDE Secondary programmes. The Scottish Government has had discussions with universities about the need for flexibility in delivery of ITE programmes and will continue to engage with them on this issue.

The Scottish Government’s Teaching bursary scheme provides bursaries of £20,000 for career changers wishing to undertake a one year PGDE in hard to fill STEM subjects. These are Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Chemistry and Home Economics. The scheme has recently been extended to include Gaelic as a secondary subject, and Gaelic medium across all secondary subjects and in primary.

Additionally, the Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which is made up of a range of key education stakeholders, is considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail.

Chamber and committees