Question reference: S6W-12295
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 17 November 2022
-
Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 December 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what budget it has allocated for the rates relief available under the Non-Domestic Rates (Reverse Vending Machine Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 in each year since it came into effect.
Answer
Eligibility for non-domestic rates reliefs is set out in legislation and it is for local authorities to administer reliefs to eligible properties in accordance with that legislation. As such, the Scottish Government does not set aside allocations for individual non-domestic rates reliefs, but rather decisions on non-domestic rates reliefs, for example Reverse Vending Machine relief, are taken as part of the annual budget process, using Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) forecasts of the total revenues raised net of relief costs.
The SFC forecast that the Reverse Vending Machine relief would cost less than £1 million in the 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years. The SFC forecasts are available on their website.
Data on the actual cost of non-domestic rates reliefs is released periodically as part of Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics publications available on the Scottish Government’s website.