Chamber and committees

Official annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot. However, data from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is available prior to this time and around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990.

We are committed to further increasing the annual area of peatland and have committed £250 million to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

Deer management is currently carried out across land holdings of varying size from 10Ha to over 10,000Ha. The extent of the deer management and any required collaboration is more dependent on the species and land type rather than any minimum size. For ‘territorial’ species such as roe deer the scale of management will often be at the individual farm unit; whereas for open hill red deer, that range across multiple large properties, the management scale expands to Deer Management Groups that cover many thousands of hectares.

The Code of Practice on Deer Management prescribes to everybody who owns or manages wild deer on someone else’s land (irrespective of the size of that land holding), how they should deliver sustainable deer management. A review of compliance with the Deer Code published 2019 concluded that where it was relevant to them, a majority of owner-occupiers, across varying land holdings, had undertaken actions to meet each of the themes outlined in the Deer Code. NatureScot, in their role as Scotland’s deer authority, work with a range of partners, including the Association of Deer Management Groups, local deer management groups and individual land managers to develop effective planning and deliver deer management across Scotland.

Table 1 presents the gross estimated income from the higher property rate, by property class.

The figures presented are gross amounts and do not take account of reductions in liability due to reliefs awarded in 2022-23. This is due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief in 2022-23 which means that it is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the breakdown of net figures by property class.

Figures in Table 1 are 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 may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

Table 1: Estimated gross HPR income, by property class in 2022-23

Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such it would be inappropriate for Scottish Ministers comment on enforcement measures. Your office may wish to contact British Transport Police BTP (D-Division Scotland) directly, who can advise on the information you are requesting.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10619 on‎ 26 September 2022. 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

Decisions on non-domestic rates, including the poundage and any reliefs, are generally considered in the context of the Scottish Budget in line with other government priorities.

Table 1 shows the estimated net income from the large business supplement in 2019-20. Figures for 2019-20 and earlier are available in the answer to S5W-25592, available at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S5W-25592 . Table 1 updates the previously given figure for 2019-20 with more recent data, which was not available at the time of the original answer.

Table 2 shows the estimated gross and net income from the higher property rate since 2020-21. It is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the net income in 2022-23, due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief, therefore only the gross figure is given.

Table 1: Net income from the large business supplement

As at 1 July 2022 (latest available data), no entries of reverse vending machines had been made to the Valuation Roll, therefore no relief under the Non-Domestic Rates (Reverse Vending Machine Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 has been awarded.

The Valuation Roll is maintained by the independent Scottish Assessors.

Information on applications for rates relief is not held centrally.

We continue to carefully consider the report and recommendations made by the previous Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee as regards regional marine planning and are working to finalise our formal response, which will be published this Autumn.

The Scottish Government recognises the huge pressures the cost of living crisis is placing on households, particularly on those who rent their home. That is why we have committed to protecting tenants by freezing rents and imposing a moratorium on evictions – at least until 31 March. Our intention is also to take action to prevent immediate rent increases.

We are working at pace to agree expedited processes to deliver any legislation necessary to achieve this with the Scottish Parliament and the UK Government, to ensure these crucial changes are brought about as soon as possible. We will engage with stakeholders and others, as we develop the emergency Bill.

We are taking urgent action to protect tenants in Scotland, well ahead of rest of UK. Our PfG announcements for emergency legislation, is part of our ambitious reform programme for the New Deal for Tenants.

The amendment put forward by Labour back in June was not workable and would have been at much higher risk of legal challenge. We have taken the time needed to ensure that the legislation we bring forward to freeze rents and introduce a moratorium on eviction is legally robust and will ensure tenants are protected.

Our emergency legislation must, by definition, be temporary. But given the huge uncertainty as to what the next 6 months holds, we intend to review very carefully whether and how any measures might be extended; and how what we do now paves the way for longer term reform – which we have already committed to.

A Housing Bill in the year ahead will give new and strengthened rights to tenants, improve affordability, and deliver key policies relating to short term lets and the prevention of homelessness.

Meanwhile, in Wales, the one part of the UK where Labour could actually act as the Scottish Government is acting, we see very little sign of the ambition we have outlined this week or indeed of the ambition to reform renting as we have in Scotland over the last 10 years.