Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many small businesses in the Hamilton South parliamentary constituency will benefit from the proposed cut in business rates.
Information onsmall businesses in the form requested is not held centrally. However,information on the number and rateable value of non-domestic properties whichmay be eligible for relief under the Small Business Bonus scheme is availablefor each of the local authority areas concerned on the Scottish Assessors Portalwww.saa.gov.uk. This information is shown asfollows:
| Number of Properties | Rateable Value of Property | |||
| Up to £8,000 | £8,001-£10,000 | £10,001-£15,000 | Total up to £15,000 | |
| South Lanarkshire | 4,956 | 626 | 905 | 6,487 |
Notes:
(i)The rateable value ranges shown in the table correspond to those on page 12 of the Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007.
(ii)The table shows the number of non-domestic properties, excluding zero-ratedproperties, with rateable values of up to £15,000 in all of South Lanarkshirelocal authority area. The Hamilton South parliamentary constituency fallswithin this area.
(iii)The number of eligible businesses will be lower than the number of non-domesticproperties in each area, because some businesses have more than one property.This may affect eligibility for relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme,which will depend on:
thecombined rateable value of all properties in Scotland which a business owns, leases or isotherwise entitled to occupy;
whetherthe property is eligible for one of the existing rates relief schemes;
thelevel of other public sector assistance received by the business.