Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-39836

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons the European Commission has decided to withhold over €40 million of regional development funding for 2010-11 from Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-39838

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to resolve the reported significant shortcomings indentified by the European Commission in the way that regional development funding is allocated in Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-39925

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rural development grants have been awarded in the Borders and at what (a) total and (b) average value, in each year since 2007.

The following table sets out funding value and cases per year in the Borders for schemes under the current Scotland Rural Development Programme 2007-13, worth some £65.8 million in total. The Less Favoured Area Support Scheme was the only scheme to begin payments in 2007; the other SRDP schemes ran from 2008 onwards.

Scheme	Year	Cases	Value	Average
Forestry Challenge Funds	2008	1	£19,840	£19,840
	2009	3	£79,887	£26,629
	2010	1	£53,196	£53,196
Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation	2008	2	£152,322	£76,161
	2010	2	£244,792	£122,396
	2011	2	£762,840	£381,420
Land Managers'' Options (LMO)¹	2008	150	£140,000	£933
	2009	511	£461,000	£902
	2010	731	£1,413,000	£1,933
LEADER	2008	9	£507,543	£56,394
	2009	12	£448,529	£37,377
	2010	19	£1,281,279	£67,436
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)²	2007	646	£6,224,290	£9,635
	2008	719	£6,176,003	£8,590
	2009	649	£6,173,919	£9,513
	2010	323	£2,406,241	£7,450
Rural Priorities	2008	84	£6,109,553	£70,225
	2009	243	£15,918,547	£65,508
	2010	134	£17,174,563	£128,168
	2011	4	£31,675	£7,919
Total Value “ All Schemes			£65,779,019

Notes:

1. For LMO, case numbers and value are for applications made.

2. For LFASS, case numbers and value are for payments made. 2010 payments are ongoing.

The Skills Development Scheme mainly awards grants to national bodies or bodies with a remit beyond a single region. Some of these projects may well benefit or involve Borders farmers, but we have not awarded any grants specifically in the Borders. There were no awards in the Borders under the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme.

Question reference: S3W-39422

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 28 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses in each parliamentary constituency have received (a) free and (b) partially subsidised insulation under the Home Insulation Scheme since it was introduced.

Based on delivery as at 2 January 2011, within all Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) areas since the scheme was introduced:

11,539 households had at least one insulation measure that was free under HIS, broken down by constituency as follows:

Constituency	Households
Angus	1,419
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	397
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	20
Central Fife	395
Clydebank and Milngavie	1
Dundee East	860
Dundee West	370
East Lothian	153
Eastwood	14
Edinburgh Central	95
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	260
Edinburgh North and Leith	1
Edinburgh South	17
Edinburgh West	131
Falkirk East	5
Falkirk West	1
Glasgow Cathcart	394
Glasgow Govan	10
Glasgow Pollok	231
Glasgow Rutherglen	267
Gordon	4
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	790
M Midlothian	8
Moray	1
North East Fife	456
North Tayside	330
Ochil	303
Orkney Islands	666
Perth	6
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	93
Shetland Islands	101
Stirling	1,563
Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	1
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	152
Western Isles	2,024
Total	11,539

3,255 households had at least 1 insulation measure that was partially subsidised under HIS, broken down by constituency as follows:

Constituency	Households
Angus	119
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	41
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	4
Central Fife	192
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	2
Dundee East	138
Dundee West	23
East Lothian	59
Eastwood	3
Edinburgh Central	47
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	299
Edinburgh North and Leith	2
Edinburgh Pentlands	4
Edinburgh South	4
Edinburgh West	129
Glasgow Cathcart	245
Glasgow Govan	11
Glasgow Pollok	171
Glasgow Rutherglen	216
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	117
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	1
Midlothian	1
North East Fife	206
North Tayside	30
Ochil	101
Orkney Islands	146
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	11
Shetland Islands	7
Stirling	570
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	28
Western Isles	328
Total	3,255

A household may have had both a free and a partially subsidised measure installed; if so, the household will be counted in both of the above figures.

The majority of insulation installations provided so far by HIS are within the initial ten participating local authorities where schemes began in November 2009, and which were extended in April 2010. Phase two delivery began in September 2010 and installations within the additional nineteen local authorities participating in that phase will continue to increase in volume as these schemes progress and the pipeline of applications is converted to installations.

Question reference: S3W-38719

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) total rateable value and (b) number of rateable properties will be in 2011-12, broken down by (i) sector and (ii) bands of (A) up to £18,000, (B) £18,001 to £34,999, (C) £35,000 to £49,999, (D) £50,000 to £64,999, (E) £65,000 to £89,999, (F) £90,000 to £119,999, (G) £120,000 to £249,999, (H) £250,000 to £499,999, (I) £500,000 to £999,999 and (J) £1,000,000 and over.

The total number of properties and combined rateable values of all properties broken down by band and sector is as follows.

Sector	Zero Rated	(a) Up to £18,000		(b) £18,001 to £34,999
Sector	No.	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value
Advertising	0	1,937	5,645,334	33	832,605
Care Facilities	5	1,624	12,065,760	555	14,172,500
Communications	11	286	961,755	13	315,200
Cultural	23	942	6,401,120	204	5,089,750
Education and Training	8	933	8,566,390	510	13,057,325
Garages and Petrol Stations	9	3,668	17,462,850	359	9,192,575
Health and Medical	9	1,927	14,286,215	416	10,354,900
Hotels	9	3,181	18,890,186	518	13,000,948
Industrial Subjects	68	34,877	177,486,240	4,375	108,918,475
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	41	17,107	47,375,870	770	19,264,905
Offices	16	28,022	170,903,588	3,875	97,044,079
Other	6,110	6,212	17,271,462	274	6,783,968
Petrochemical	3	39	283,280	17	446,950
Public Houses	9	1,848	21,418,715	1,217	29,942,850
Public Service Subjects	47	7,784	42,273,488	1,031	25,615,955
Quarries, Mines, etc.	255	246	1,219,606	64	1,589,251
Religious	466	5,004	26,316,547	618	14,968,000
Shops	57	40,237	266,255,564	4,970	121,908,266
Sporting Subjects	522	2,647	4,745,200	61	1,565,900
Statutory Undertaking	8	213	837,701	43	1,066,181
Total	7,676	158,734	860,666,871	19,923	495,130,583

Sector	(c) £35,000 to £49,999		(d) £50,000 to £64,999		(e) £65,000 to £89,999
Sector	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value
Advertising	5	214,950	0	0	3	225,000
Care Facilities	295	12,389,910	203	11,603,750	226	17,134,850
Communications	10	447,300	10	562,050	8	626,600
Cultural	51	2,073,250	47	2,665,500	28	2,152,000
Education and Training	341	14,335,125	332	19,105,975	514	39,479,450
Garages and Petrol Stations	165	6,908,750	105	5,979,550	78	5,943,150
Health and Medical	173	7,254,300	124	7,078,000	129	9,988,050
Hotels	222	9,254,745	154	8,746,150	135	10,179,020
Industrial Subjects	1,699	70,836,200	995	56,483,450	964	73,260,550
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	330	13,706,150	193	10,884,700	180	13,486,100
Offices	1,535	63,748,150	873	49,399,750	798	60,497,550
Other	78	3,191,300	39	2,216,600	39	3,035,000
Petrochemical	4	158,500	4	217,000	4	286,000
Public Houses	408	16,902,150	153	8,626,310	169	12,783,500
Public Service Subjects	329	13,794,400	200	11,256,850	220	16,745,900
Quarries, Mines, etc.	38	1,626,192	12	703,100	26	1,974,168
Religious	131	5,375,500	46	2,574,950	18	1,326,600
Shops	1,810	75,179,200	1,086	61,944,750	1,132	85,834,750
Sporting Subjects	20	775,700	6	357,300	6	441,800
Statutory Undertaking	24	1,011,700	11	653,400	31	2,311,350
Total	7,668	319,183,472	4,593	261,059,135	4,708	357,711,388

Sector	(f) £90,000 to £119,999		(g) £120,000 to £249,999		(h) £250,000 to £499,999
Sector	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value
Advertising	2	223,000	2	280,000	3	984,300
Care Facilities	122	12,453,200	125	20,048,500	7	2,250,000
Communications	11	1,112,600	10	1,778,900	10	3,480,400
Cultural	16	1,660,000	29	4,965,400	19	6,389,600
Education and Training	342	35,119,250	438	74,377,650	302	109,548,500
Garages and Petrol Stations	48	4,929,900	77	12,702,100	16	5,133,200
Health and Medical	100	10,368,150	138	22,721,800	48	16,482,000
Hotels	97	10,032,400	185	31,223,910	86	30,078,250
Industrial Subjects	675	69,237,350	1,088	182,427,150	388	131,475,200
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	110	11,406,950	185	31,102,450	125	41,318,910
Offices	537	55,375,161	830	139,755,900	423	148,500,514
Other	25	2,539,450	65	11,138,550	22	7,563,100
Petrochemical	5	528,000	16	2,918,500	19	6,747,000
Public Houses	87	8,875,100	89	14,504,300	13	3,611,600
Public Service Subjects	126	12,865,400	187	31,359,650	80	28,100,900
Quarries, Mines, etc.	11	1,131,550	25	4,145,489	12	3,979,602
Religious	8	810,500	14	2,322,700	0	0
Shops	817	84,625,000	1,572	265,524,776	611	210,349,900
Sporting Subjects	6	623,750	10	1,713,100	3	1,034,000
Statutory Undertaking	19	2,017,207	70	12,300,648	47	16,004,089
Total	3,164	325,933,918	5,155	867,311,473	2,234	773,031,065

Sector	(i) £500,000 to £999,999		(j) £1,000,000 and Above		Total (Included Zero Rated)
Sector	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value	No.	Rateable Value
Advertising	0	0	0	0	1,985	8,405,189
Care Facilities	1	616,000	0	0	3,163	102,734,470
Communications	7	4,711,000	1	1,109,000	377	15,104,805
Cultural	1	506,000	6	9,920,000	1,366	41,822,620
Education and Training	186	124,516,200	28	63,137,000	3,934	501,242,865
Garages and Petrol Stations	2	1,242,000	0	0	4,527	69,494,075
Health and Medical	19	13,342,600	34	84,876,500	3,117	196,752,515
Hotels	36	23,156,000	18	26,485,000	4,641	181,046,609
Industrial Subjects	157	106,931,500	77	133,102,500	45,363	1,110,158,615
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	52	32,793,000	6	7,617,000	19,099	228,956,035
Offices	177	121,254,500	124	226,916,000	37,210	1,133,395,192
Other	14	10,123,950	13	21,081,600	12,891	84,944,980
Petrochemical	10	6,954,500	22	93,863,000	143	112,402,730
Public Houses	0	0	0	0	3,993	116,664,525
Public Service Subjects	38	25,591,200	38	103,673,500	10,080	311,277,243
Quarries, Mines, etc.	11	7,921,011	0	0	700	24,289,969
Religious	0	0	0	0	6,305	53,694,797
Shops	235	158,058,006	171	276,488,380	52,698	1,606,168,592
Sporting Subjects	1	598,500	4	7,261,000	3,286	19,116,250
Statutory Undertaking	36	25,603,550	31	651,410,000	533	713,215,826
Total	983	663,919,517	573	1,706,940,480	215,411	6,630,887,902

Notes:

1. In the tables, No. is the number of properties

2. The information given is from valuation roll data as at 1 January 2011

3. The information given is before the impact of valuation appeals. Actual rates bills will also depend on eligibility for business rates relief.

4. Zero rated properties and properties with a rateable value less than £750,000 are included for completeness

5. Sector is as defined by the Scottish Assessors.

Question reference: S3W-38717

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional revenue would be raised if the large retail supplement were increased from 0.7p to 0.8p in 2011-12.

The large retail supplement applies to properties with a rateable value of over £750,000 and involves a range of levels starting at 2.5p. The large business supplement, which applies to properties with a rateable value over £35,000 and has been in place for many years in both Scotland and in England, is currently 0.7p. Increasing the large business supplement from 0.7p to 0.8p would raise an additional estimated £5.3 million in 2011-12. This estimate is before any account is taken of reliefs and appeals, which would reduce the amount.

Question reference: S3W-38722

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the non-domestic rates income would be in 2011-12, broken down by category of rateable value (RV), if the following supplements were applied for properties with the following RV: 2.5p for more than £750,000 but not exceeding £1,000,000; 5p for more than £1,000,000 but not exceeding £1,099,999; 10p for more than £1,099,999 but not exceeding £1,265,000; 12p for more than £1,265,000 but not exceeding £2,140,000, and 15p for more than £2,140,000.

It is not possible to provide fully accurate estimates because appeals and reliefs will reduce expected income. However, the additional income generated in 2011-12 over and above the large business supplement, before taking account of appeals and reliefs, is estimated to be as follows.

If a supplement of 2.5p were paid by all property with a rateable value of more than £750,000, but not exceeding £1,000,000	£4.4 million
If a supplement of 5p were paid by all property with a rateable value of more than £1,000,000, but not exceeding £1,099,999	£2.6 million
If a supplement of 10p were paid by all property with a rateable value of more than £1,100,000, but not exceeding £1,265,000	£10.7 million
If a supplement of 12p were paid by all property with a rateable value of more than £1,265,001 but not exceeding £2,140,000	£47.8 million
If a supplement of 15p were paid by all property with a rateable value of more £2,140,000	£156.5 million

Question reference: S3W-38712

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the percentage increase in business rates bills for retail properties with a rateable value greater than £750,000 in 2011-12 compared with 2010-11, expressed in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

At an individual property level, the percentage increase in business rates bills for retail properties that will apply from 2011-12 compared to 2010-11 ranges from between 8.9% in cash terms, or 6.4% in real terms, for those retail properties with a rateable value of more than £750,000 but less than £1,000,000, to 39.1% in cash terms, or 35.8% in real terms, for those retailers with a rateable value over £2,140,000. These figures include both the annual increase in the poundage rate and the proposed new large retail property supplement.

However, companies liable for the large retail supplement would only pay it on the largest of their properties. For these companies, business rates typically account for around 2% of turnover. In terms of their total business rates bills, the large retail supplement would only generally account for around an additional 0.3% of turnover.

Question reference: S3W-38709

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total non-domestic rates income would be in 2011-12 if the poundage rate were increased by 3% from 2010-11 and how this differs from the estimate in Scotland’s Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2011-12.

The estimated non-domestic rates income in the Draft Budget 2011-12, published on 17 November 2010, was based on a then anticipated inflationary uplift in the poundage rate of 2.5 per cent. The increase in revenue resulting from a 3.0 per cent uplift in the poundage rate rather than the 2.5 per cent inflationary uplift assumed at the time of the Draft Budget 2011-12 publication would be around £11 million.

Question reference: S3W-38723

Asked by: Jeremy Purvis, MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the properties subject to the proposed large retail supplement is appealing the 2010 revaluation figure.

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