- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government in respect of the impact on the telecommunications industry of differences in the calculation methods used by valuers in ascribing rateable values to BT and other fixed line operators.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues,including non-domestic rates. Scottish assessors are also in regular contactwith their counterparts in England and Wales, the Valuation Office Agency, to ensure the systemis consistent north and south of the border.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what levels of rateable value are ascribed to telecommunications cables in the primary control of network operators other than BT and what information it has on the values ascribed to equivalent cables controlled by the same operators in England.
Answer
Thefollowing is a summary of the total rateable value for the major operators (whichis split into local valuation rolls) rounded to nearest £50,000:
| Operator | |
| BT | £45.5 million |
| Cable and Wireless (Mercury) | £3.15 million |
| THUS | £2.7 million |
| Telewest (includes cable TV) | £4.3 million |
| NTL (includes cable TV) | £2.5 million |
Therelevant assessor is also in contact with:
| Easynet |
| Energis |
| Global Crossing |
| Zipcom plc |
| Your Communications |
| MCI Worldcom |
| SSE Telecommunications |
With a view to identifyingthe extent of their Scottish networks and agreeing appropriate rateable values.
Information on rateablevalues in England is a matter for the Valuation Office Agency. Theinformation is not held centrally by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 24 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on marketing for the MTV Europe Music Awards and whether it provided additional funding for this purpose and, if so, from what budget such funds were allocated.
Answer
MTV Networks Europe wasresponsible for marketing the MTV Europe Music Awards. No additional fundingwas provided for this purpose.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 24 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding has been allocated to VisitScotland to boost the marketing of Scotland as a destination following the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Answer
VisitScotland has used thisunique opportunity to showcase the many attractions that Scotlandholds from within its existing budget. On the back of the tremendous success of the awards, VisitScotland will continue to market Scotland asa must visit destination.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of relief has been available under the (a) Fuel Duty Rebate and (b) Bus Service Operators Grant in each year since 1997.
Answer
For Bus Fuel Duty, replacedfrom 1 July 2002 by Bus Service Operators Grant, the rate of rebate paid onultra low sulphur diesel, the fuel predominantly used by bus operators, havebeen as follows:
| Effective Date | Rebate (pence per litre) |
| 1997 | 25.14 |
| 18 March 1998 | 29.85 |
| 10 March 1999 | 35.07 |
| 22 March 2000 | 36.68 |
| 1 October 2003 | 37.96 |
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the rates for all telecommunications operators are levied equally in order to encourage broadband investment.
Answer
Rateable values fortelecommunications operators are based on the rateable assets in occupation bythem. Any variations will be determined by the extent of such assets in theoccupation of any particular operator. The majority of operators are valuedusing the comparative approach where actual rental levels of fibre space areused to set the rateable value. For BT the receipts and expenditure method isused to value their rateable assets due to the size of the network. If thismethod was used for the smaller operators it would result in a nil or very low rateablevalue. There is relevant legislation and case law which sets out when it isappropriate to use the receipts and expenditure method and assessors, who areindependent from both central and local government, follow this whendetermining how to reach a rateable value. The valuation of the industry isbeing looked at afresh in advance of revaluation 2005 and assessors will beholding discussions with all operators to agree an approach and ensure thesystem is fair to all.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all telecommunications operators are charged rates on their fibres.
Answer
All telecommunicationsoperators in rateable occupation of fibre are currently in the valuation rollor are in the process of providing the necessary information to the relevantassessor to allow entries to be made.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether in the event of the public sector investing in telecommunications networks, business rates on such networks will be levied on an equivalent basis to rates levied on private sector companies.
Answer
Yes. The basic principle ofrating is that any subject is valued for occupation by a hypothetical tenantnot the actual occupier.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 20 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to (a) Her Majesty's Government and (b) the European Union on aviation policy in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Executive has been inregular contact with the Department for Transport and the European Union overthe last five years to discuss a range of aviation issues affecting Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funds are available to promote interaction and co-operation between the state and private sectors in education and, if not, whether it has any plans to make such funding available.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not provide or plan to provide such funding. There are alreadyexamples of interaction and co-operation at many levels between the two sectors.
