Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s public health approach to violence has prevention at its core and our focus is aimed at preventing and reducing harm for people in Scotland’s communities.

My heartfelt condolences go to Lisa Petrie for the heartbreaking loss of her son, John McNab. I commend Lisa on the work she has been doing to educate young people on the dangers of carrying knives as well as her campaign to roll out bleed kits which helped inform our commitment.

Scottish Government will engage with partners to inform how bleed kits are rolled out to community settings and what quantities would be appropriate and effective.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes quarterly statistics on proposals and appeals against non-domestic rates revaluations. The publications present the position up to the end of each quarter (end of June, September, December and March). As a result, the Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of appeals that were specifically lodged against non-domestic valuations at the end of May following the last three valuations. The earliest data held is the position as at 30 June following each of the last three revaluations.

The value of each property for the purposes of non-domestic rates is assessed by the local independent Scottish Assessor, and referred to as its “rateable value”. There is a right of appeal against the Assessor’s determination of rateable value.

Following recommendations of the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates, from 1 April 2023, a new two-stage appeals process was introduced, with an initial evidence-based proposal stage. Proposals can typically be made within four months of a revaluation or 31 July in a revaluation year. Ratepayers may then, in prescribed circumstances, appeal against the outcome of the proposal to the Local Taxation Chamber, first-tier Tribunal.

Appeals are reported when they are first notified to the Assessors by the Scottish Tribunals. As a consequence of the lodging and disposal deadlines, no appeals were reported as lodged between the 2023 revaluation on 1 April 2023, and 30 June 2023.

There was no proposal stage prior to 1 April 2023 and therefore direct comparisons between revaluations are not feasible.

In some cases, there may be multiple proposals and/or appeals lodged against the valuation of a single property, for example where both the proprietor and the tenant submit a proposal. To account for this this, table 1 shows both the total number of subjects with at least one proposal or appeal, as well as the total number of all proposals/appeals, in the period between revaluation and 30 June of the same year.

Table 1: Number of subjects with at least one proposal or appeal, and total number of proposals and appeals lodged against non-domestic valuations in the period between the valuation and 30 June that same year, following each of the last three revaluations. Figures are reported to the nearest ten.

As at 1 June 2025, there were 116,100 properties receiving any amount of Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) relief. In 2026-2027, we estimate that SBBS relief will be awarded to around 115,500 properties. Table 1 shows a breakdown of these figures by council area and valuation joint board.

Whilst the figures above represent the number of properties, the number of businesses or ratepayers receiving SBBS relief will typically be lower: one ratepayer can be liable for multiple properties, and receive SBBS relief on multiple properties. The currently available data does not allow us to reliably estimate the number of businesses or ratepayers benefitting.

Additional information on SBBS relief awards as at 1 June 2025 is available in Non-domestic rates relief statistics 2025.

Table 1: Number of properties receiving SBBS relief as at 1 June 2025, and estimated number likely to receive in 2026-2027.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 100, and may not sum due to rounding. Figures for 2025-2026 are based on the billing snapshot as at 1 June 2025. Figures for 2026-2027 are estimates based on the available valuation data.

FFIS is a competitive scheme and, as with the 2025 round, no application is guaranteed funding. Where demand exceeds the available budget, eligible applications will be prioritised in accordance with the published scoring and ranking methodology. This will ensure applicants understand in advance how funding decisions will be made.

We have been working closely with stakeholders on how we can improve FFIS, including ways to ensure more farmers and crofters are able to benefit from this support. Co-development is ongoing and we will provide further details on these improvements later this summer.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes quarterly statistics on proposals and appeals against non-domestic rates revaluations. The publications present the position up to the end of each quarter (end of June, September, December and March).

As a result, the Scottish Government does not yet hold information on the number of appeals against non-domestic property valuations that have been lodged following the most recent (2026) revaluation. The first statistics relating to the 2026 revaluation (providing the position as at 30 June 2026) are currently planned for publication in Autumn 2026.

The value of each property for the purposes of non-domestic rates is assessed by the local independent Scottish Assessor, and referred to as its “rateable value”. There is a right of appeal against the Assessor’s determination of rateable value.

Following recommendations of the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates, from 1 April 2023, a new two-stage appeals process was introduced with an initial evidence-based proposal stage. Proposals can typically be made within four months of a revaluation or 31 July in a revaluation year. Ratepayers may then, in prescribed circumstances, appeal against the outcome of the proposal to the Local Taxation Chamber, first-tier Tribunal.

Appeals are reported when they are first notified to the Assessors by the Scottish Tribunals. As a consequence of the lodging and disposal deadlines, it is unlikely that any revaluation 2026 appeals will have been received by 30 June 2026.

Statistics on proposals and appeals against non-domestic revaluations are routinely published (updated quarterly) on the Scottish Government website and are available at: Proposals and appeals against non-domestic revaluations.

Scottish Government agrees that anyone carrying out electrical work should be appropriately qualified. However, the regulation of electricians is complex.

The Scotland Act reserves the regulation of the sale of goods and services and consumer protection to the UK Parliament. This means that Scottish Parliament may not have the devolved competence to legislate in this area.

Scottish Government has previously considered the regulation of electricians further to the advice of the Electricians Working Group. However, there are no plans to re-establish the group or legislate at this time. We will keep our position under review and continue in the meantime to invest in consumer advice and advocacy services.

We would urge consumers to always use trusted websites when contracting a tradesperson to carry out work, including:

Trading Standards Trusted Trader website: Learn about Trading Standards Trusted Trader

Electrical Safety First website: Electricians Scotland | Electrical Safety First

Electrical Competent Person website: Home

SELECT website Home

The Scottish Government offers a range of support to businesses facing declining footfall, antisocial behaviour and rising costs. In the Scottish Budget, property rates have been reduced in 2026-27 alongside a package of reliefs forecast to save ratepayers over £870 million. Eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in mainland Scotland can receive 15% rates relief, with licensed hospitality venues and music venues eligible for an additional 25%, bringing total relief to 40%. This is capped at £110,000 per business annually and guaranteed in Budget 2026-27 for three years to 2028-29. The Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) will be maintained at current rates and thresholds, also guaranteed in Budget 2026-27 for three years. Over 100,000 properties remain eligible for SBBS, which remains the most generous of its kind in the UK.

Scottish Government issued a consultation on ‘Reforming the non-domestic rates system: proposals, the draft valuation roll, content of valuation notices, etc.’ in 2021. Views were sought on a range of changes to the system including the introduction of a disposal deadline for revaluation proposals on 31 July of a revaluation year, or four months after the valuation notice is received, whichever is later.

A full consultation analysis is available on the Scottish Government website. The Scottish Government published a ‘We asked, You said, We did’ in 2022, available at: Consultation on reforming the non-domestic rates system: proposals, the draft valuation roll, content of valuation notices, etc. - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space.

The suggested time period for lodging a revaluation proposal was adopted on the basis that this provides proprietors, tenants and occupiers with a period of eight months to scrutinise their rateable value and consider whether they want to lodge a proposal - four months between the publication of their draft rateable value (30 November the year before revaluation) and revaluation (1 April), and four months after revaluation (1 April to 31 July in the year of revaluation).

The timeous lodging and resolution of proposals is paramount in a three-year revaluation cycle which was introduced at the 2023 revaluation following a recommendation by the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates.

This would be an operational matter for Scottish Water.

Any discharge from a wastewater asset is covered by the requirements of authorisations issued under the Environmental Authorisation (Scotland) Regulations 2018. In the event of a potential non-compliance identified by the appropriate regulator, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), this would be investigated by Scottish Water and action taken as appropriate.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00543 on 10 June 2026. 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.