- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis it has carried out of the impact on inward investment of its proposed rise to business rates for large retail premises.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38603 on 4 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the retail premises that will be subject to the proposed business rate supplement are (a) in a town centre, (b) on the edge of town and (c) out of town.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38597 on 4 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many large retail premises that will be subject to the proposed business rate supplement are appealing the recent revaluation of their rateable value.
Answer
It is estimated that around 225 retail properties, accounting for around 0.1 per cent of all non-domestic property in Scotland, will be liable for the proposed large retail supplement. Of the £30 million estimated income from this supplement, around 90 per cent would be due to be paid by supermarkets or by retailers located outwith town or city centres.
Interpretation of the enabling legislation, the Non-Domestic Rates (Levying) (Scotland) (No. 3) Regulations 2010, is a matter for each local authority. Rateable values of all retail properties in Scotland, along with addresses and information on whether properties are subject to a valuation appeal, can be found on the Scottish Assessors'' website at www.saa.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a list of the retail premises that will be subject to the proposed business rate supplement, broken down by location.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38597 on 4 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis it has carried out of the impact on Scotland’s competitive position, when compared with England and Wales, of its proposed rise to business rates for large retail premises.
Answer
The national poundage rate in Scotland matches that in England but is lower than the rate set for Wales. The position in Northern Ireland is not directly comparable.
Reliefs available in Scotland are by far the most generous in the United Kingdom, worth an estimated £2.4 billion over the five years to 2014-15. Among the reliefs which are more generous than equivalent reliefs offered elsewhere in the UK are the Small Business Bonus Scheme, empty property relief and rural rates relief. Scotland also offers the only renewable energy generators relief available in the UK.
Taken together, this gives the business community in Scotland a real competitive advantage over the rest of the UK.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact assessment it has carried out of its proposed rise to business rates for large retail premises posing a disincentive to expand for businesses below the £750,000 cut off.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38603 on 4 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 January 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what disposals were applied to people charged under section 33(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in each year since 2007-08.
Answer
The available information is given in the following table.
Persons Proceeded Against Under Section 33(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 19901, by Main Result, from 2007-08 to 2009-10
| Main Result of Proceedings | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Not Guilty | 6 | 5 | 12 |
| Imprisonment | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Fine | 24 | 17 | 8 |
| Admonished | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 33 | 22 | 21 |
Note: 1. Where main offence.
Source: Scottish Government Court Proceedings database.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 January 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 27 January 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-12587 by Jim Mather on 13 January 2011, whether any of the £32 million invested came from a source other than the Scottish Co-investment Fund, the Scottish Venture Fund and the Scottish Seed Fund.
Answer
Primarily, the investment activity would be delivered through the Scottish Co-investment Fund, the Scottish Venture Fund and the Scottish Seed Fund. Some 90% of the investments in 2009-10 relate to these funds.
In addition, Scottish Enterprise, through the Scottish Investment Bank team, delivers a Portfolio Fund to support follow on investment activity and can also invest directly in businesses, which accounted for £3.4 million investment in 2009-10. Full performance details on investment activity are published in the Scottish Enterprise Investments 2009-10 annual review, available through the Scottish Enterprise website.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis it has conducted on the economic outlook for the retail sector in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012.
Answer
The future prospects of the Scottish economy are summarised within the Scottish Government''s quarterly State of the Economy publication available at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/state-economy/latestSofE.
The latest version, published at the end of November 2010, observes on page 51 that should conditions in the Scottish labour market remain weak, this will lower income per household and therefore lower household consumption.
In addition to such general analysis, the Scottish Government has commissioned an in-depth study of the contribution which the retail sector makes to the Scottish economy. The results of this study will be available by early March 2011.
- Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers commodity price increases will have on the retail sector.
Answer
An increase in commodity prices can increase both the cost of production and distribution across sectors in the economy however it is difficult to anticipate the exact nature of impact in the retail sector. For example, the implications will depend on the pricing strategies of individual retail firms and whether costs are absorbed in profit margins or passed to the consumer. In addition, there can be a time lag between increases in the cost of goods production and implications in the retail supply chain.
