- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what contact it has had with the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) suppliers that are registered to provide a service in Shetland to ensure that they are able to deliver connections in the areas that they have advised.
Answer
When registering to deliver services through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, suppliers are asked to provide evidence that they have already connected properties commercially. For Shetland, there are a number of registered suppliers who indicated that they were active in Shetland – Openreach, Converged Communication Solutions Ltd, Shetland Broadband LLP, Scotnet and BRDY. Shetland Broadband have already delivered connections using a fixed wireless solution, as have BRDY, using a satellite-based solution.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what measures in its draft Budget 2025-26 reflect the statement by the First Minister on 22 May 2024, in which he stated that one of his "priorities is to grow Scotland’s economy".
Answer
The Draft 2025-26 Budget invests in the long-term prosperity of Scotland’s people, places and businesses.
The expanded package puts money firmly behind the Programme for Government’s priorities for economic growth, investing:
- over £321 million for the enterprise agencies, a rise of £14 million compared to the 2024-25 Budget. This will facilitate their work to help businesses to start and scale, develop new products and enter new markets, and positively impact on their communities;
- a further £200 million (net) to the Scottish National Investment Bank as it continues to create jobs, support innovation and attract investment across the country;
- over £214 million made available to deliver sustainable and inclusive economic growth across every region in Scotland through the City and Region Deals programme this year;
- a new fund of £2 million for VisitScotland to promote Scotland’s connectivity, internationally and to encourage visitors to consider lesser-known destinations, and a revitalised and expanded Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF), which will provide critical economic support to tourist hotspots across the country;
- over £2 billion in Scotland’s colleges, universities and skills system in recognition of their contribution to driving economic growth and to help ensure businesses have access to a skilled workforce;
- a £34 million uplift for culture to improve the resilience and sustainability of our cultural sector’s contribution to growing our economy;
- £15 million to fund the Government’s Enterprise Package to expand support for female entrepreneurs, boost the economic impact of universities, and to develop of business clusters in advanced manufacturing and deeptech; and
- over £7 billion investment in our total infrastructure package, almost tripling our investment in offshore wind to £150 million and investing £100 million for the continued rollout of our digital connectivity programmes across Scotland.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that financial claims submitted to it by people who have been impacted by the building of the Queensferry Crossing are addressed.
Answer
All valid claims under Part 1 of The Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973 submitted to Transport Scotland in respect of the Queensferry Crossing have been passed to the Valuation Office Agency to negotiate the level of compensation due with the claimants’ appointed agents. As soon as Transport Scotland receive the reports from the Valuation Office Agency, payments will be forthcoming as has already been done in a number of cases.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with VisitScotland regarding the impact of new pylon infrastructure on tourism.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31641 on 5 December 2024. 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
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the scheduling for the R100 scheme will be confirmed to provide specific forecast dates for properties.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% (R100) programme is delivered through three key strands of activity – the over £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South), the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial coverage which includes emerging technologies such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connections.
Our address checker at www.scotlandsuperfast.com shows the most recent digital connectivity plans and timescales for residential and business properties across Scotland that are scheduled to receive an improved broadband connection via the R100 contracts. It is not possible to show digital connectivity timescales for the R100 SBVS as this is a demand-led scheme, which means it is up to eligible property owners or residents to decide whether they wish to secure a connection in this way.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, after taking account of the expected in-year transfers and budget revisions, what difference there will be between local government funding provided in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Answer
As outlined in Table 4.12 of the Scottish Budget, on a like with like basis, the Local Government Settlement will be £15,035.2 million following the conclusion of the Spring Budget Revision 2025-26 compared with £14,027.1 million following the conclusion of the Spring Budget Revision 2024-25. It is therefore estimated that the difference in local government funding provided in 2024-25 and 2025-26 will be £1,008.1 million.
As with all previous years, any unanticipated transfers in year will also be given effect at the relevant budget revision and processed in the Local Government Finance Order 2026-27.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) assessment it has made and (b) consultation it has carried out regarding what behavioural responses might arise in response to the proposed decision to freeze three of the income tax bands in its draft Budget 2025-26.
Answer
The Scottish Government relies on independent forecasts produced by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in arriving at policy decisions on Income Tax. These forecasts include the impact of any possible behaviour change that may result from policy decisions.
The impact of Income Tax policy decisions taken at the 2025-26 Scottish Budget on taxpayers and households is presented in the following publications:
Regarding consultation, in advance of the Scottish Budget, the Scottish Government conducts annual research on public attitudes to tax.
This research also includes information on where people find information on tax and their knowledge of the tax system. The information which has been collected is available online: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2025-26-pre-budget-engagement-summary/pages/1/
This year, we also conducted a broad programme of business engagement on tax policy, used to inform the Tax Strategy, which gave businesses the opportunity to express their views regarding behavioural responses to Scottish Income Tax policy.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether an economic impact assessment has been conducted into the impact of the closure of the Queensferry Crossing due to risks of falling ice.
Answer
No specific economic impact assessment has been carried out in relation to closures of the Queensferry Crossing due to the risk of falling ice. A range of estimates exist for the daily impact of the Queensferry Crossing being closed but vary depending on whether the closure is known in advance and there is no clear linear relationship between short and longer closures.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it will provide to the grassroots music venue industry regarding its plans for business rates relief in the years beyond the draft Budget for 2025-26.
Answer
Decisions on non-domestic rates for 2026-27 will be considered in the context of the Scottish Budget 2026-27.
The Scottish Budget 2025-26 announced a new 40% relief for hospitality premises, including grassroots music venues with a capacity of up to 1,500, which have a rateable value of up to £51,000, capped at £51,000 per business. Following the passage of the budget, the Scottish Government will update the MyGov website setting out the non-domestic rates reliefs available to provide information to applicants on this new relief.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of marine environment (a) are currently undergoing active restoration work and (b) have planned active restoration work.
Answer
We do not currently have an overarching mechanism to record where restoration is taking place across Scotland. Not all restoration projects require a marine license, and the patchwork of other consents and licenses needed by restoration projects does not provide a coherent overview of restoration activity in a centrally held database. The registration process for restoration projects we consulted on earlier this year was intended as a first step to improve our understanding in this regard. We will continue to explore the feasibility of such a process as part of the development of the restoration plan.
