Chamber and committees

Scottish Government has been monitoring closely the economic impact of Covid on business - including business indebtedness - throughout the pandemic, and has implemented a range of measures to alleviate the resulting financial difficulties. For example, the Advisory Group for Economic Recovery was set up in April 2020, led by Benny Higgins, to provide independent expert advice on actions that will make a difference to businesses across sectors and regions throughout Scotland; Scottish Government also convened a number of discussions with banks and other private sector investors to understand better how to facilitate financing economic recovery, culminating in the February 2021 publication of “Financing the Recovery” which highlighted the need to manage debt exposure, to finance growth opportunities and to design successor loan schemes that are ambitious, flexible and responsive to the needs of the economy. The report made 10 recommendations to the UK Government and to Scottish Ministers, across four areas of focus: Economic Overview, Financing Business Survival and Resilience, Financing Opportunity and Growth, and Business Support and Collaboration. As the regulation of financial services is reserved to the UK Government, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture wrote to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury urging him to take forward some of the actions from the report, including extending forbearance measures and the introduction of a framework to manage and recover debt. A positive response was received, outlining what action is already being taken to assist recovery as we move forward.

Since the launch of the Guarantee in November 2020 we have continued to work closely with partners from across the public, private and third sector to deliver the recommendations from Sandy Begbie’s report.

As detailed in response to S6W-00024 on 25 May 2021 through our initial investment of £60m in 2020-21 we have provided funding for around 18,000 new and enhanced existing opportunities to support young people. This includes opportunities through Local Authorities, Colleges, Skills Development Scotland and the third sector.

As part of this process we are collecting information on the number of young people supported by the Guarantee and make this publicly available in the coming months.

Funding for the Guarantee is in addition to our existing substantial investment in Education and skills and further statistics on Apprenticeships are published regularly by Skills Development Scotland. Whilst the Scottish Funding Council collect and analyse data relating to the provision of further and higher education in Scotland.

S6W-00024 provides further details on how we intend to invest the £70m committed to the Guarantee in 2021-22. The Guarantee is based on the principle that local partners are best placed to identify and deliver the opportunities and support needed for young people in their areas and to respond flexibly to emerging challenges. We are continuing to work with partners to ensure that regardless of a young person’s location or background, they are able to access employment, education, training or volunteering opportunities that suit their circumstances.

In response to question S5W-34614 on 1 February 2021 we detailed our commitment to developing a rigorous measurement and evaluation framework to demonstrate the impact of the Guarantee. The measurement and evaluation framework is in the process of being developed with Key Performance Indicators due to be finalised in summer 2021.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage wide-ranging and inclusive dialogue on this subject, particularly concerning how to best manage and present elements of our contested or hidden heritage. While local authorities are responsible for public statues, reflecting their accountability to local residents, the Scottish Government will continue to champion a fresh consideration of how we understand and present Scotland’s history to ensure the full story is told. We are aware of City of Edinburgh Council's ongoing review and would encourage all local authorities to consider similar action.

The Scottish Government recognises Scotland’s part in historic injustices like the transatlantic slave trade and Empire and is determined to acknowledge and learn from the our past. Recent activity includes our partnership with Museums Galleries Scotland alongside race equality and museum sector stakeholders to identify ways to reinterpret aspects of Scotland’s hidden or contested heritage to present a more accurate, complete picture of the past. This includes a commitment to establish a museum to address Scotland’s historical links to the slave trade, alongside celebrating the many and varied positive contributions that minority ethnic communities have made and continue to make to Scotland.

The Scottish Government has committed to promote and support the teaching of Black and Minority Ethnic history and the importance of tackling racism in society today. As part of a programme of work on Race Equality and Anti-Racism in Education, the teaching of Scotland’s colonial history in schools - and how it, and anti-racism education, can be better delivered as part of the curriculum - is a core focus. We are working with the race equality sector, education practitioners and young people to consider how best to address this commitment.

In addition, during the last year, we reviewed our approach to international development and announced the outcomes in March this year. Our new Principles – co-developed with input from civil society and academics in our partner countries and Scotland – will lie at the heart of how Scotland seeks to set an example in addressing the issue of systematic racism and inequality in international development. As part of this, discussions have focussed on how to support a shift in power to partner countries, towards increased localisation of development.

The extension of the 100% Retail, Hospitality, Leisure, and Aviation (RHLA) relief for the whole of 2021-22 is expected to save ratepayers an estimated £719 million. The following table shows the value of the estimated relief award broken down by property class, as industry sector classifications are not available.

Table 1: Value of RHLA relief in 2021-22, by property class

Tables 1a, 1b, and 1c, have been placed in the Scottish Parliament information Centre under Bib No. 62441. These show the number of properties as at 1 April 2021 subject to the Basic (BPR), Intermediate (IPR), and Higher Property Rates (HPR) respectively, broken down by local authority and property class (data on industry sectors is not available). Property class is a classification used by the Scottish Assessors to describe the type of a property, and may not accurately reflect its use. For example, a property classified as a ‘shop’ may in fact be used to offer financial services. Properties across all bands may be eligible for rates reliefs which may reduce or eliminate their rates liability.

The BPR (49p) is charged on properties with a rateable value up to and including £51,000, the IPR (50.3p) on properties with a rateable value over £51,000 and up to £95,000, and the HPR (51.6p) is charged on properties with a rateable value over £95,000.

Table 2 presents the net amounts (after anticipated reliefs) expected to be raised in 2021-22 through the BPR, levied on all properties, and the additional amounts expected to be raised from the IPR and HPR. Ratepayers who have repaid or have publicly committed to repaying the equivalent of the Retail, Hospitality, Leisure and Aviation (RHLA) relief awarded in 2020-21 are assumed not to apply in 2021-22.

Table 2: Net amounts expected to be raised in 2021-22 through the BPR, IPR and HPR, by property class

The Scottish Government granted local authorities the autonomy to introduce local reliefs schemes through the Community Empowerment Act 2015. The Scottish Government continues to encourage local authorities to use these powers where they may deem it appropriate. Local Authorities are independent bodies, democratically elected and accountable to their local electorate, and the administering of all reliefs under these powers is a matter for them.

The following table sets out spend on local reliefs from 2016-17 to 2019-20:

Alongside the most generous relief package, the Scottish Government has delivered the lowest poundage in the UK for the third year in a row, and over 95% of properties pay a lower rate of tax than anywhere in the UK. The Scottish Budget 2021-22 took the unprecedented step of reducing the poundage mid-revaluation, saving ratepayers £120 million compared to what an inflationary increase would have delivered.

We have already demonstrated our commitment to the recommendation to bring the Large Business Supplement into line with the aggregate rate set in England when we reduced the rates liabilities for around 9,500 medium-sized properties by introducing the Intermediate Property Rate for properties with a rateable value between £51,001 and £95,000.

Decisions on taxation are taken as part of the Scottish Budget process.

The Business Rates Incentivisation Scheme (BRIS) was introduced in in 2012-13 in recognition of the fact that the Scottish Government guarantees the combined General Revenue Grant (GRG) and distributable Non-Domestic Rates Income (NDRI) funding thereby reducing the incentive for local authorities to try and maximise their NDRI. The BRIS is focussed on incentivising local authorities to maximise their existing NDRI and also to grow their local business tax base. This is achieved by the Scottish Government setting annual locally based targets. All local authorities that exceed their annual target retain half the extra income achieved from growth in their tax base until the next NDR revaluation assuming they maintain the extra income in the subsequent years. The amounts to be retained are calculated from local authorities’ audited annual non domestic rates returns. The information requested is set out in the following table.