Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-26188

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how VisitScotland ensures that less popular tourist destinations are given appropriate funding to assist with boosting visitor numbers.

VisitScotland operates a number of funding streams to support local tourism.

VisitScotland’s Growth Fund supports collaborative tourism marketing projects that focus on growth in the tourism sector and ensure that visitors experience the true Spirit of Scotland. The fund is a platform which supports groups in leveraging additional and focused marketing investment, stimulating collaboration within the industry, closer working with VisitScotland and achieving strategic alignment with the national Tourism 2020 strategy.

EventScotland, within VisitScotland, runs three primary funding programs:

The International Events Programme is designed to support events that attract a significant economic impact from visitors from outside Scotland and profile Scotland on the International stage. This program includes Scotland’s investment in major golf tournaments.

The National Events Programm e is designed to complement the International Events Portfolio by showcasing specific towns and regions across the country out with the larger metropolitan areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh and to drive domestic tourism.

The Beacon Events Programme is designed to complement the National and International programs to support strategic development activity in line with the objectives of the National Events Strategy.

Question reference: S5W-26190

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available to help develop tourism in the Scottish Borders, and how much it has provided to the area in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government recently invested £1.1m in Glentress for forest tourism development. The Scottish Government also committed £10m in 2018-19 and £13.3 million in 2019-20 to support the South of Scotland Enterprise Partnership and the delivery of South of Scotland Enterprise. So far, funding has been agreed for a total of 25 projects following the SOSEP Board’s recommendation, of which 8 projects had a strong tourism theme.

Over the last 10 years there has been ongoing investment through Scottish Enterprise by means of leadership and development programmes, destination research and capital investment.

VisitScotland has invested £468,000 marketing the Borders Railway since its opening and the Scottish Government provided VisitScotland with £500k for South of Scotland marketing in up to March 2020.

In 2012 VisitScotland’s Growth Fund supported Scottish Racing with a £65,000 award and funding from EventsScotland over the last 10 years has supported events such as Tweedlove bike festival, Tour of Britain, Tweed Valley Tunnel Trail Run, Scottish Borders Heritage Festival and Hawick Reivers Festival.

A breakdown of VisitScotland spend is provided in the following table.

VisitScotland funding
Financial Year	Total
2010-11	66,300
2011-12	97,137
2012-13	102,900
2013-14	134,300
2014-15	138,000
2015-16	124,200
2016-17	22,000
2017-18	73,483
2018-19	31,440
2019-20	55,369
Grand Total	845,129

Question reference: S5W-26189

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how VisitScotland engages with VisitEngland to develop cross-border tourism links.

VisitScotland engaged with VisitEngland through the Borderlands Growth Deal ensuring that the Visitor Economy and Collaborative cross-border projects are highlighted as an opportunity.

Following the submission of a Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal proposal to the UK and Scottish Governments in September 2018, a Heads of Terms was signed with the UK and Scottish Governments on Monday 1 July 2019. We expect the signing of the full Deal next year which will realise the potential for sustainable and inclusive economic growth across the South of Scotland and North of England.

Question reference: S5O-03780

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to National Galleries Scotland's decision to end sponsorship from BP.

Question reference: S5W-26176

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it expects the completion and operational use of Hull 802, which is under construction at the Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work has set up a Programme Review Board to report on the revised schedule and costs for the delivery of vessels 801 and 802 under construction at Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The report is expected to be submitted shortly. When that report has been received, and Ministers have had an opportunity to consider it, Mr Mackay will update Parliament on the content.

Question reference: S5W-26175

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the projected cost of (a) MV Glen Sannox and (b) Hull 802.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work has set up a Programme Review Board to report on the revised schedule and costs for the delivery of vessels 801 and 802 under construction at Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The report is expected to be submitted shortly. When that report has been received, and Ministers have had an opportunity to consider it, Mr Mackay will update Parliament on the content.

Question reference: S5W-25904

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has cost each year to administer the implementation of the reintroduction of non-domestic rates on sporting rights, including the cost of administrating appeals.

The valuation of non-domestic properties for rating purposes is carried out by independent Scottish Assessors. It is their responsibility to manage their own budget and the cost of entering properties, including sporting rights on the Valuation Roll is not held centrally.

The non-domestic rates system, including billing, collection, enforcement and determination of rates relief is undertaken by local authorities. Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including any administration costs, on the basis of local needs and priorities. Information on the costs of administering the implementation of non-domestic rates on sporting rights is not held centrally.

Information on the costs of administering appeals is also not held centrally. Rating appeals are part of an independent statutory legal process and are dealt with by Valuation Appeals Committees or the Lands Tribunal for Scotland and ultimately may be determined in the Lands Valuation Appeal Court.

Question reference: S5W-25901

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals have been (a) made and (b) upheld each year against non-domestic rates charged on sporting rights, broken down by parliamentary region.

Question reference: S5W-25903

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised each year from the collection of non-domestic rates charged on sporting rights, broken down by parliamentary region.

Information on the income from non-domestic rates charged on sporting rights are not available by parliamentary region. The following table presents the estimated non-domestic rates income raised from sporting rights from 2017-18 until 2019-20, broken down by local authority.

Local Authority	2017-18 (£thousands)	2018-19 (£thousands)	2019-20 (£thousands)
Aberdeen City	3.4	7.5	5.0
Aberdeenshire	97.8	474.5	216.7
Angus	93.8	95.8	72.4
Argyll & Bute	384.5	408.2	425.3
Clackmannanshire	5.1	5.2	4.1
City of Edinburgh	0.7	0.8	0.4
Dumfries & Galloway	331.4	391.9	326.2
Dundee City	0.7	0.7	0.2
East Ayrshire	40.4	56.3	38.2
East Dunbartonshire	6.5	6.7	5.5
East Lothian	4.1	4.2	3.8
East Renfrewshire	2.3	3.6	1.8
Falkirk	7.6	5.1	3.7
Fife	39.5	50.1	34.5
Glasgow City	-	-	-
Highland	1,768.1	1,669.3	890.1
Inverclyde	1.0	9.2	1.1
Midlothian	25.6	24.7	6.4
Moray	65.4	252.9	126.3
Na h-Eileanan Siar	92.3	98.4	50.4
North Ayrshire	21.8	38.9	26.6
North Lanarkshire	7.3	7.5	7.3
Orkney Islands	5.8	5.8	9.2
Perth & Kinross	233.6	263.5	193.1
Renfrewshire	1.3	2.7	2.8
Scottish Borders	203.1	202.4	162.2
Shetland Islands	12.8	13.3	7.3
South Ayrshire	39.3	47.2	40.0
South Lanarkshire	59.6	61.6	62.0
Stirling	164.3	179.2	151.1
West Dunbartonshire	6.1	6.3	6.1
West Lothian	6.1	7.0	5.9
All	3,731.3	4,400.5	2,886.0

Source: Assessors' Valuation Roll, Local authority billing information.

Note: Analysis based on properties with a core description of "shootings", which includes shooting rights, deer forests and game larders.

Question reference: S5W-25909

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date ScotRail will deliver (a) bi-mode trains and (b) revamped and modernised rolling stock on the Borders Railway.

As committed in the Programme for Government, we will publish an action plan in spring 2020 to decarbonise Scotland’s railway network by 2035. The primary focus will be the continuation of a rolling programme of efficient electrification, the procurement of battery trains and the development of hydrogen fuel cell propulsion trains. Further detail on how change may affect specific routes, will be set out in the action plan.

Although more seats have been provided in the last few years Abellio ScotRail has further plans to increase peak capacity on the Borders route. However, these plans cannot be implemented until Angel Trains and Wabtec deliver on their contracted programme for refurbished HSTs so that existing upgraded diesel trains used elsewhere on the Scottish network cannot be cascaded to meet the needs of busy Borders services.

The fleet of class 158 and class 170 diesel trains which currently operate on Borders services have completed a significant refurbishment programme which has seen Wi-Fi, wheelchair spaces, power sockets, accessible toilet plus new flooring, seating and lighting installed to deliver the modern facilities that passengers expect. It is apparent that a high quality refurbishment can deliver a passenger experience comparable to new rolling stock whilst offering value for money across the Franchise period.

Chamber and committees